


One with the Sea

by obsessionofcookies



Series: The Sea and Us [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: AU, F/M, M/M, and yes i'm not creative in the underwater city's name at all, but like not mermaids, i have nothing against mermaids i just liked the idea, it's not the same storyline, just humans that can breath underwater basically, later on maybe more midotaka just not sure as of yet, main ships are - kagakuro akafuri aomineXmomoi, no tails or gills, roughly based off of an anime nagi no asukara, sea people, underwater people
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-04 01:25:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5314994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obsessionofcookies/pseuds/obsessionofcookies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the small town of Seirin, there are rumours of a silent underwater city, called Seirina, with humans, just like those walking the earth. These humans can breath underwater, but look just like us. They live day by day, much like the upper surface, have school, shops, businesses and families. Humans that live in Seirin have begun to dub this as a simple myth that the elderly have completely conjured up to stop children from wandering too close to the harsh sea on especially stormy days. That is what many first year high school students believe at Seirin high school, but when a couple new first year students transfer into their high school, who live in the sea, the Seirin students must learn to adapt.</p>
<p>Of friendship, love, and breaking barriers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> i didn’t know what name to make the underwater city so like a total idiot i just made it seirina (i literally added an ‘a’ to seirin XD) so you can infer that the town of Seirin based their name off the underwater city rumoured to be in the waters and just took the ‘a’ off of it :3
> 
> roughly based off of nagi no asukara an anime that was pretty good - but kinda weird in at end :/ - i’m not following the anime’s storyline - the characters in this are completely on their own and not filling in certain rolls.
> 
> and again, this isn’t about mermaids - that was in the tags if you didn’t notice (i don’t hate mermaids at all i swear, in fact they are really pretty and awesome looking)
> 
> this is more of a prologue than an actual chapter :) oh, and this will likely be a two part series. also i made two summaries - so i put both of them in the prologue :P

In the small town of Seirin, there are rumours of a silent underwater city, called Seirina, with humans, just like those walking the earth. These humans can breath underwater, but look just like us. They live day by day, much like the upper surface, have school, shops, businesses and families. Humans that live in Seirin have begun to dub this as a simple myth that the elderly have completely conjured up to stop children from wandering too close to the harsh sea on especially stormy days. That is what many first year high school students believe at Seirin high school, but when a couple new first year students transfer into their high school, who live in the sea, the Seirin students must learn to adapt. 

_Of friendship, love, and breaking barriers._

...

They say Seirina was like another world.

A beautiful world that only those who are chosen can see. On a complete other plane of existence from the surface world. 

The surface world was told to be nothing in comparison to the wonders that are by those under the sea.

Kuroko didn’t believe in that. He thought the surface was on a whole other world, one that never became a part of the sea’s equation - that is until Seirina's high school shut down.

Kuroko isn't one to withhold his education, unlike Kagami-kun. So the surface is now a part of the sea's equation. They say the barrier between the two conflicting worlds should never be broken, but now they are forced to do just that. 

_What is the worst that can possibly happen?_

...

It had been through eavesdropping that Kuroko heard about the news. This wasn’t really a surprise, not in the slightest.

Kagami always tells him he’s much like a ghost and people don’t really notice him - but Kuroko likes to think he’s just good at hiding. Hiding has always been his speciality, what with so many duties and eyes on him since birth, from being the chief priest’s son of Seirina - the _underwater city_ of Seirina.

The point is, it’s a regular occurrence for him to overhear his Father’s meetings in their home. He’s simply hiding beside the sliding door that would lead him into their main living area. The weather was warmer today - the water’s temperature being warmer than usual, meaning their short spring break is nearly ending - the start of a new school year in the beginning of April. The spring showers will likely continue, for now the water has been warm, but it is due to him comparing it to the harsher winter from before.

And that was what Kuroko suspected this conversation would be about, for his Father, Ryusei, and the Mayor, Toshio, often held a meeting before the start of the school year. Normally they met with the other members of the Mayor’s council, but the fact they are meeting privately means it must be serious. Which in truth it was for his Father suddenly exploded, delivering the news to Kuroko’s ears.

“What do you mean the high school will be closing down?!” his Father bangs his cup loudly against the table, Kuroko cringes at how easily his Father gets angry. His mother was always calm, much like himself. His Father often got angered by this, but then after complaining, he will go on about how it’s great that Kuroko seems stoic for it is a great image to have as the son of the chief priest. To seem stoic and smart coupled with a good head on his shoulders, a person, a _future chief priest_ ready to lead the people.

Kuroko hears Mayor Toshio place the cup back in it’s rightful spot before replying with a smile, “I’m sorry - but this can’t be helped. The numbers in students are dwindling, _you know that_. And the teachers have all been moved to other cities since they simply can’t be paid the amount they need to live here.”

“This doesn't make any sense - what about our children, Toshio?! They need to complete their education! And I would like Kuroko to experience high school here in Seirina like I did, even if the number of students has gotten smaller!” his Father snaps back, no room for objections. Kuroko can tell his Father’s tone is slowly turning for the worst - like the flip of a coin. Quickly and suddenly.

Mayor Toshio is a calm voice of reason, his voice coming out soft with a great level of care, like one would give a stray injured fish left astray in their waters - Mayor Toshio _knows_ this is a sensitive topic. “Ryusei… there are only five students able to attend the high school. The last few years have taken all the older students out, and now even our elementary and junior high school is emptying out. People are leaving to the other underwater cities and… as you now…” -

"Don’t mention the disgusting surface people when I’m here! I’d rather not be reminded of those people’s insolence of leaving our home to live with those pigs with human’s faces!” his Father cusses out, voice dripping in toxic waves - making Kuroko jolt in his hiding spot. He nearly knocks into the potted plant standing tall beside him on a low table, appearing silent and innocent in the midst of this back and forth between two old friends.

Mayor Toshio sounds sympathetic, “Ryusei, I have to bring them up… since there are no schools that are close by, the only option is for them to attend the surface world’s school.” 

The room went quiet, without warning, the only noise Kuroko could hear was his own bubbles of breath flowing out into the water. The anticipation for his Father's obvious denial of this fact was grating on Kuroko’s nerves. It plagued his mind, making it go numb with every waking second like a frostbite creeping it’s way into his blood vessels, slowly making his mind numb. The water is calm down here, the only sound emanating in the waking steps of the small number of maids working far into the late hours of the evening, the pitter patter of their small heeled flats and their quiet distant whispers. 

His mind was waiting. 

Waiting for an explosion. 

Anything to escape the numbing silence, the cruel anticipation seeping into his bones; becoming ingrained in him. His ears strain.

“No.” His Father denies this. As expected. Kuroko doesn’t know why he thought otherwise. The silence was playing tricks on him - fooling him into thinking that his Father would logically go through with this news.

“Ryusei, think logically, our kids” -

“Maybe _you’re_ okay with allowing your daughter on the surface world, but I’m not fine with my son communicating with those self absorbed non believing humans!”

Mayor Toshio sounds desperate, voice now crumbling, “They are not non-believers, they” -

“They don’t pray to the guardian of the sea, Murasakibara-sama himself, and you expect me to call them believers?!” his Father accuses.

“ _Our_ children don’t pray” -

“They visit him and offer him food, that speaks volumes to how much they care.”

Mayor Toshio gives a resigned sigh, “Well - the surface people don’t have the privilege of seeing him with their own eyes - can you blame them for not believing us?”

Kuroko is once again plagued with silence. This time it feels awkward to be associated with, the conversation seeming to only get worse through the time they continue speaking. His heart cannot help but pound and his shoulders shiver a little in the overbearing lack of speech coming from the closed door Kuroko is peering at. The yellow string of light is the only sign of life, it’s oozing onto the floorboards where Kuroko is standing. His pale powder blue eyes shift back forward.

His father’s voice is no longer raised, now sounding calm and collected, but extremely sharp - sharper than the weapons Kagami’s father forges. “Toshio, you know that Murasakibara-sama wasn’t always visible to our ancestors - they still believed.”

“People aren’t like that anymore, Ryusei - as much as you think otherwise….” he trails off, voice whispering and Kuroko strains his ears to keep a hold of the conversation, making sure he only breathes when he needs too. He doesn’t wish for his Father to hear the moving waters escaping his mouth, his worries seemed to be unnecessary. 

His Father says, “The sea will not be happy about our people leaving and coming back as they please. There’s a reason our cities are separate.”

“I know. But this is only for school. A couple hours and then they are back - that’s all. I’m not too keen on my Satsuki-chan being with high schoolers that may treat her rudely or judge her, but high school is where you learn about that. I have faith that she will be fine, and I think Tetsuya will be fine also.” Mayor Toshio explains himself pointedly, saving no more room for uneasiness and objections. It seems that Mayor Toshio may actually have convinced his father, the feat was a large one and Kuroko is once more amazed by Mayor Toshio’s patience. Momoi herself was patient when he needed her to be - he supposes the two are similar in that manner. The daughter and father were very much alike now that he thought about it.

Kuroko’s father mutters, succumbing himself to the truth of the news, “Hmph. And I’m guessing that Taiga and Takao will be going also. Takao will likely bring trouble - that boy doesn’t have a filter. At least with Taiga there I will know that Kuroko won’t get ensnared with the humans and their lies.”

Kuroko finally lets himself roll his eyes at how old his father sounds - not thinking highly of the surface people at all; judging them based on what the ancestors have told them.

“Mhmm… I’m sure Takao will learn he can’t get away with everything soon enough - the fisherman incident nearly resulted in Takao being skinned alive!” they both laugh heartily and Kuroko can tell his father has finally calmed down, Momoi’s father has always been good at that. They were old friends that knew each other better than anyone else. He thinks they know each other better than their wives do. Toshio continues, “Taiga and your son are a great duo. The Kagami’s have raised that boy well - he gives great care for his friends, I know with him around, Satsuki will be safe.”

He can tell his father is grinning widely, “Of course. It won’t just be Taiga, it will also be Tetsuya, he wouldn’t want his future wife getting hurt now, would he? He will surely protect her.”

Toshio sounds like he’s hurriedly agreeing, “Ah, yes, of course.” There’s a silent pause and he continues, “Oh… it won’t be just them… that Furihata boy is also in their same year. He will go with them all.”

Kuroko decides to leave, slipping past a maid walking by, making it seem like he was just passing through the hall. The maid doesn’t pay him any mind despite how late it really is. Through the panes of glass lining the tall walls, the moon is lighting up dimly against the water and the bright blue spirit fires illuminating the lanterns are the only sources of light at the bottom of the sea. The The spirit fires are bathing the streets in light that eerily casts dark shadows against the small buildings of their city. 

Their city appeared asleep in it’s dark state - but Kuroko felt anything else but that.

Pale eyes reflecting against the blue lights in the distance are wide and awake like the unblinking eyes of a fish. His skin is pale and grey in the blue lights he passes, his limbs fluttering through the waters as he walks forward back to his room. Kuroko’s mind wanders, grasping desperately and unable to let go of the news.

He heard enough to know that the news is indeed solid and true. They are all attending high school on the surface.

He can’t wait to deliver the news to Kagami. 


	2. Of Red and Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami had always been there. Kuroko had always wanted it to stay that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> flashbacks are in italics - just so you know, cause there will be plenty of those in this series :D
> 
> also people thinking are in italics as well, but flashbacks will be separated from the main story so you can easily tell the difference of when a person is thinking or when it’s a flashback - do not worry.
> 
> btw, from the last chapter (well, really it was more of a prologue) - kuroko’s dad calls kagami by first name and takao & furi by last name for reasons you will discover later - but if you don’t catch them when it happens i will explain it in the notes ;)

They aren’t really mermaids. That’s the first myth about Kuroko’s people.

The people living in Seirina may be able to breathe underwater but they don’t have fins or giant gaping gills - they breathe through their mouths and noses like any other human can on land. Except his people can do it in water, or out of water. It didn’t matter what it was, his people could simply breathe it in. They did have scales, but they were not noticeable to the naked eye, so small and the same colour as the skin they are born with. The only way to notice the invisible scales is the shine of them reflecting a little when standing in the sun. 

If Kuroko stood beside a regular human, he would look the same. 

Their special scales absorbed water, loads of it, so going on land for hours is plausible, breathing on land is completely fine - as long as they returned by the late night. Though, Kuroko himself was blessed with great scales - the best kind that could last days without needing to be replenished with water. Not that he ever would - he felt like water was his home and being without it he could only handle temporarily. 

The only difference between them and the surface people was that they can live underwater - at least without the need of oxygen. With scuba diving an option, he supposes surface people could try living underwater also.

Kuroko grew up knowing about the sea and how she can be a kind humble god, but she can also be your worst nightmare all at once. He knew that to be the truth, for the sea has taken down ships of the surface people for their long term ignorance or excessively fishing so that the underwater people had nothing left to eat. The sea can be dark and lonesome - but in this kindly built city, the underwater people have a home so that they no longer feel alone in these dark depths. So they can longer feel the temptation to leave the sea and never return.

Kuroko didn't understand how the surface world could be seen as a bad thing - for if the sea people can live up there too, what is the harm for those individuals who feel happier up there to live up on the surface? Kuroko has always dreamed of placing his two feet on the surface - on the small island known as Seirin. But his Father has always been against it. He has banished many for deciding to leave their city to live on the surface. Those individuals never allowed to see their families again. It was rare, and as a child Kuroko didn’t understand the overall effect of that occurring. 

There are a low number of children living in the city simply because many people left, many being men and woman that would contribute to having kids. So Kuroko has never had more than a few friends he has in his classroom from junior high. It was just always them, and maybe a few younger kids that yelled a lot and climbed onto Furihata’s poor head.

Increasing the population is important for his father, so much so that his father already planned for him and the Mayor’s daughter, Momoi to get married and have kids together, to ensure that the line is never broken. Kuroko always had that fact ingrained in his mind, ever since he was born that he never really saw it as his choice but as a simple duty to be filled out. It was only natural.

But with his curious mind wandering to the surface world and the lack of romantic affection towards Momoi (he’s known her since they were in diapers, she was an important friend) Kuroko couldn’t help but begin second guessing his father’s decisions. With each passing day he felt like he can’t see his father the same way. 

Kuroko knows it isn’t just the fact Momoi is the only girl his age - if there were other girls, and one he maybe cared about, his father would no doubt insist on Momoi. For she was the Mayor’s daughter, a beautiful healthy woman who will likely bring about the best child. Also, not to mention the fact the Mayor and chief priest’s families will finally be integrated into one. 

Kuroko missed the Father who used to play with him out in their garden, cultivating their seaweed, or playing hide and seek amidst the city. Or the times when he was just learning how to swim properly, what allowed Kuroko to move the fastest. His father was once a kindhearted man, but once Ryusei replaced Kuroko’s grandfather who passed away, he had grown tired and old. Acting grumpy and always blaming others in the city. Murasakibara-sama once got so angry his Father nearly lost an arm. After that incident, Ryusei’s calmed down only a little. He doesn’t bother Murasakibara-sama with petty ideals anymore, which is a relief for Kuroko since the God is easily urked by pointless matters.

Kuroko, unlike a normal teen in this situation, couldn’t just wait to deliver the news to Kagami, for he was hopeful that with heading to the surface it would mean Kagami-kun could be excited about the surface as well. That this could be a whole new experience - _we can even increase our circle of friends!_

He pretends to sleep for a little while, just until his Mom finally leaves him alone, with a kiss on his forehead, her long blue strands of hair falling near his neck as she leans over him, her braid swaying in the waters. She says to herself that once he hits high school she’ll have to stop doing this and he lets out a small smile at all the memories he has of his mother committing the same affectionate action every night. Kuroko supposes it will take awhile to get used to his Mom no longer doing this anymore.

After her shadowed figure leaves his bedroom, he waits a few spare moments before swimming out of his room, landing safely onto the ground. He walks leisurely, his heart growing larger at the thought of him and his friends finally facing the surface world together. Will it be as great as he envisions?

...

He swims up to Kagami’s window, treading in place while tapping against the surface lightly in hopes of rousing the tall teen.

Kagami does so a second later, appearing confused and whispering, “Kuroko? What are you” -

Kuroko dives into Kagami’s room, knocking the redhead back onto his bed. Kuroko flops on top of him, snuggly hugging the brash teen, blue tresses tickling Kagami’s chin.

Kagami stiffens before softly combing his long fingers in between Kuroko’s soft hair, the blue strands floating up and down with every movement the small boy makes. With each passing year Kagami has grown larger, now appearing broad and strong, much like his father, the blacksmith of their city. He makes all kinds of tools for the farmers of this city and Kagami assists him any chance he gets. With their end of school year break Kuroko rarely saw the teen since Kagami’s been so busy with working beside his father. He missed the smoky scent of fire and different metals that worked it’s way into the depths of Kagami’s clothes, never disappearing from Kuroko’s persistent nose. 

Hiding his head in the crook of Kagami’s neck he reveals, “I have great news…”

He can tell Kagami is grinning as well, “well, spit it out, you idiot.”

“That’s not very accurate coming from you, Kagami-kun,” Kuroko teases, lifting himself up from lying over Kagami. He shifts before lying on his side, facing Kagami, the redhead follows, turning to face him completely. 

Kagami flicks his forehead, “Shut up.”

Kuroko lets out a small smile at the familiar gesture, letting his head snuggle against Kagami’s familiar burgundy duvet cover, that felt softer than Kuroko’s specially made (expensive) duvet from the far away neighboring city.

The red orbs awaiting an answer seem curious, but also a little uneasy. Kuroko thinks it’s likely Kagami thinks he has another crazy plan for getting to the surface without his Father knowing. All of their attempts seemed futile and most ended with Takao nearly getting killed (their gullible tester of these plans) or Furihata stopping them before they actually go through with it. Furihata is likely the reason why Kuroko is even still standing alive and well, that boy was a blessing to be around at all times. Kuroko can’t even describe how happy he is to have the innocent nervous wreck of boy around him as an actual friend. 

He understands Kagami’s worry, but he doesn’t need to fret any longer. Kuroko allows another small smile to escape his lips, thinking with Kagami he can smile as much as he likes, “We’re not going to high school at Seirina.”

“Huh?” Kagami utters, eyes going wide.

Kuroko explains with a rush, “I overheard my father - he was talking with Mayor Toshio again - and I thought it would concern school since it’s starting so soon, and then Mayor Toshio told my father that the high school in Seirina is shutting down - so we have to go attend the surface school!”

He gasps heavily, catching up his breath from rambling on. He expects Kagami to be ecstatic and grinning but the teen just blinks, a frown forming on his face. His heart sinks, registering the expression on Kagami’s face as anything but a positive response.

Kagami forces a smile, which irks Kuroko even further. “Er- I’m not angry Kuroko, it’s just that I… thought we’d just explore the surface together with our friends and head back but going to school we’ll be with other people and” -

“And what? You think they’re bad?!” Kuroko snaps angrily. His fists curl and he can’t stop the frown forming on his face - he’s used to his Father being judgemental and close-minded about being with the surface people, but Kagami? He always agreed to go up there!

Kagami hurries to answer, voice soft, “No, no, it’s just - I don’t know if I’ll like them - I mean what if they mess up how we think?”

Kuroko abruptly gets to his feet, slipping away from the duvet roughly and standing on his two bare feet. “Is this how you _really_ feel? That they’re _brainwashers?!_ ”

“Well - I just wanted it to be” -

“Kagami.”

Kagami freezes in his movements, knowing full well Kuroko must be pissed to just be saying his last name without the honorific. Kuroko realizes Kagami appears seriously guilty and lonesome, lying on the bed by himself - but Kuroko can’t stop to thinking of Kagami’s words. They hurt. And stung into the wound still left open - one that he thought Kagami would never pry and allow to bleed out further. He’s always wanted to go to the surface - to see it with his own two eyes. He thought Kagami was the same.

“I can’t handle this. If you hate the surface people - then, then you might as well hate me!” Kuroko yells, voice actually raising to a loud level, he doesn’t even care if Kagami’s parents can hear, he doesn’t care at all - the only thing he can feel is the disappointment and his mind boiling in rage of being betrayed. Was Kagami just toying with his feelings this entire time? Did he even care at all?!

“They did nothing wrong to you, or to anyone!”

No, that’s not what he wants to say.

_What did I do wrong?_

Kuroko covers his face in his hands, shoulders shaking. He couldn’t say that out loud - couldn’t admit it to himself. 

_What did I do to cause Kagami to treat me this way?_

“My father doesn’t understand -and-and I thought _you_ did…” Kuroko lowers his eyes, “but I guess I was wrong.”

Kagami sounds desperate, “Wait, Kuroko - I didn’t mean” -

“Just leave me alone!” Kuroko screams before diving out of Kagami’s window, legs kicking swiftly. He moves past Kagami far quicker than Kagami’s arms that try to grab at his legs and force him back into his room. All that Kagami would get in return was empty waters - waters without Kuroko in it. He bitterly thinks that Kagami deserves the emptiness, the loneliness that will haunt him all night.

_Don’t lie to yourself. The loneliness will eat at you all night, not him. He clearly doesn’t care - you were an idiot to think so_ Kuroko thinks darkly, legs kicking harshly against the waters and zooming past buildings quickly.

Kuroko doesn’t look back or pay attention to his surroundings. Not that he needed to, this home of his he knows like he knows the colours of the fishes they are allowed to eat, or the favourite foods Murasakibara-sama enjoys consuming - all familiar and ingrained into the deepest depths of his mind. 

He can tell there are tears forming in his eyes - his vision is blurry as he swims on autopilot - legs cramping up a little, but not caring enough to stop.

He can't believe what he heard today. 

The news was one thing - _that_ was a surprise.

But this - _this surprise_ , he didn’t see coming in the slightest - more so than going to school at the _surface world_. For Kagami to think so close-minded, so horribly, just like his Father - no - he didn’t want it to be true. 

He wouldn’t let his mind think it to be true. 

_No, no, no this can’t be happening… not with Kagami-kun...anyone but Kagami-kun…_

...

_Kuroko had been swimming fairly quickly - speeding past regular citizens, who normally dodge him and nearly fall on their faces while doing so, scrambling in shock and silent fear of the small little boy with pale hair bolting through the waters. Which is an accurate response since Kuroko is much like a bullet - with his small body and strong legs, swimming at great speeds is an easy feat for him to complete. Even for a six year old boy._

_Kuroko thinks to have lost his pursuers - his father’s men and some of the servant woman at the household. Some of those kind girls were holding out candies and lollipops as though Kuroko was like Murasakibara-sama and would fall for such a simple child-like bribery. He wasn’t a complete baby to walk aimlessly into such a silly trap - he didn’t even like lollipops!_

_Satsuki-chan will likely have his head for running off like that - when they were supposed to be practicing their manners for a huge banquet when a neighboring chief priest and their family will visit from the much larger and more productive bustling city of Yosen. But, Kuroko was getting tired. And he enjoys hiding from his Father - in hopes of rousing out one of their classic old games of hide and seek._

_Kuroko tells himself not to think about the fact his Father isn’t even searching himself - that this game is in no way similar to that what they used to play together last year. He calms his beating heart while covering his small hands over it, letting out a sigh whilst setting his feet onto the ground._

_Yet again, he has forgotten his shoes. Kuroko wiggles his toes with a small smile, enjoying the feeling of the soft bay grasses, cut short for appearances only - Kuroko misses the long flowing slippery leaves that he used to roll around in with his father. Now everyone cuts them the minute the weather turns warm._

_His feet leisurely step forward, deciding to take his time. Kuroko knows the people will likely give up at some point and then maybe he could visit Satsuki-chan when she’s finally sent home since they could no longer find him. She’ll likely be crying like a baby by then and Kuroko normally would feel a sense of guilt at seeing her sad face - but she should understand his feelings._

_He hates doing these lessons - with scrutiny accompanied with it through his Father’s fellow council members. All of them commenting on how he slouches or how his feet can never sit still. How could they when he’s dying to run out of the room?! Really, knocking over that man handing them a plate of disgusting smelling fish that upset Kuroko’s stomach and fleeing the room in the midst of the craze of servants lunging to catch the fallen goods before ruining his Father’s expensive carpet was only a natural response. He shouldn’t be judged by Satsuki-chan - she just enjoys it because the servant woman all crowd around her and help paint her nails with the finest dye they made especially for her. She thrives from that - he knows she does, and she craves attention from other woman since her Mom is no longer alive and well. He didn’t judge her for that. So she has no right to judge him!_

_His foot kicks at the bay grass, nearly slipping in his frustration with Satsuki, his best friend out of simply being forced to be around each other since birth. Kuroko enjoys spending his time with her, but since he rarely ever goes to school he wishes he could have other friends also - not just Satsuki who was tied to him just because of their parents friendship and their jobs that coincide like a fish on a spirit-fire grill. It was only wishful thinking on his part._

_Feet dragging against slippery greens tickling his toes is when he sees the bright red._

_A red so bright he thinks to himself that no fish he’s ever seen before has been that red. He wonders where it’s from - could he catch it to show to his Father?! A rare fish would surely shut up his council members from complaining about his lack of presence in their overwhelmingly large home. Larger than the mayor’s simply because there wasn’t a need for a Mayor in the past._

_Kuroko’s eyes widen, lips stretching in hopes of finding a fish that would stir some form of excitement in his Father’s stony grey eyes._

_Baby blue eyes stare at the red._

_Red much like the blood that escapes cuts and scrapes from falls as a child. He reaches out, hoping for the red to stay in it’s place. And it does, his fingers grip at the red and instead of slippery scales and a wriggling body of a fish his fingertips meet soft hairs that spill in and out of his flushed pink fingers._

_Red hair?_

_Kuroko steps forward quickly - his eyes finally piecing together what is lying in the grass._

_A boy his age, asleep in the grass, eyebrows twitching slightly from his previous touch. The boy turns his head, facing up above to Kuroko’s face leaning over him, casting grey shadows over the redhaired boy’s sleeping face._

_Kuroko tilts his head in silent question,_ a boy? What is a boy doing here? _he thinks, mouth gaping at the short strands of red hair - bright but slowly turning to a dark, dark black. Pitch black, like the depths of the sea at night, without the blue spirit lanterns lighting up the way for them all. Kuroko can’t help himself from staring a little too long to be considered normal._

_Did his wish come true? A possible friend in the midst of his wistful thoughts?!_

_This could be a miracle, not just some wish that coincidentally came true._

_No - this was definitely a miracle. A miracle for him - like the ones Murasakibara-sama talked about. A miracle given to a person by the sea, for a reason - Kuroko isn’t sure what the reason for this boy was, but he knows from those stories that float up in his mind that the guardian god spoke of so fondly, like in the books he steals from his Father’s study without him knowing, that he will discover what the reason is. Surely, this miracle will explain itself. Soon enough._

_“Hello?” Kuroko utters, voice loud so that he could wake the boy._

_Kuroko then hears nearby the sounds of footsteps._

Loud _footsteps._

_With his ears straining, he distantly heard the voices of some of his Father’s men asking if they have seen a small boy anytime soon._

_Kuroko panics, heart seizing up - wanting to run away so that they won’t find him, but unsure since he doesn’t want them to stumble upon his very own miracle without being able to speak to him first. He didn’t want to leave this boy alone and on his own - what if they got angry at him for saying he didn’t see anyone, thinking he was lying on purpose?_

_Kuroko turns his head back to the boy whose eyes have already widened, peering up at Kuroko’s face and he screams loudly, “Ahh!” High-pitched as though, Kuroko was the a killer about to strike him in the middle of his peaceful slumber._

_The boy starts, scrambling up to his feet and backing away from Kuroko. The pale haired boy looks back again, hearing the footsteps nearing where they are - his heart beats in dread. He can’t let this miracle go to waste!_

_Without thinking he dives into Kagami who lets out a grunt “Oof!”_

_They fall ungracefully into a bush of some sorts - probably imported from the surface ages ago - back when they once exchanged gifts to one another. The bush was a wild mess from the outside, no one would think twice that they were hiding in the thick green vegetation sitting silently. Well, not silently at the moment - for the red haired boy with now that Kuroko notices - strange pointy eyebrows - and increasingly intimidating red eyes, like a dragon in the mythological books he reads, is yelling out, “hey! what are” -_

_Kuroko slaps on his hands over the boy’s mouth - successfully shutting him up in time before the men chasing after Kuroko could hear._

_It isn’t until they run past the bush and into the distance, their footsteps and harsh kicks against the waters only but a memory is when Kuroko releases the boy from his tight grip. The boy is gasping out, “What was that?!”_

_Kuroko bluntly answers, “We fell into a bush.”_

_The boy glares, “I can see that!”_

_“Then why are you asking?”_

_“No - I mean - erg - uh -” the boy rubs his forehead and Kuroko snickers, covering a hand over his mouth at the obvious flush of embarrassment tainting the boy’s cheeks. Kuroko found his confused expression adorable - and incredibly amusing._

_“H-hey! Why are you laughing?! This isn’t funny!” the boy accuses with a grumble and a cross of his arms._

_Kuroko continues to snicker until he gasps out between laughs, “S-sorry, it’s just y-your expression!”_

_The boy squints his eyes down at him - Kuroko then notices the slight height difference. The boy was a little bit taller than him. Was he older than Kuroko?_

_The boy asks, face turning away with a scowl, “Were those guys after you or something?”_

_Kuroko shrugs indifferently, “I guess so…”_

_The boy explodes, “WHAT?! You need to tell your parents - guys can’t chase a kid around like that!”_

_Kuroko dismisses him, “No, no! My Father sent them after me - he - well - I” Kuroko looks down at his hands lying still in his lap, “I ran away.”_

_“Oh,” the boy responds, surprising Kuroko with the lack of anger or yelling. Kuroko expected him to scold him or something. Or maybe call him a dumb loser for running away. His normal reaction was a surprise. The boy instead looks away from Kuroko’s hopeful and equally entranced gaze._

_“Er, yeah, sometimes I feel like running too - when I’m super angry. But you’re not running away for good, right?” his small red irises stare in question, somehow Kuroko doesn’t feel as intimidated from the louder boy. The voice he let out was far too soft and kind to be scary in any way._

_Kuroko can’t help the smile forming at his lips. It was relief to be able to smile - since he hasn’t done so in a while. Knowing that this miracle was so kindhearted was a blessing - a true great person. He thinks they can be friends. He wants to be friends._

_“Of course, I was waiting until they stopped chasing me. So I could go back home.”_

_“Ah. Okay, then. I don’t mind staying with you - I ran away myself too. So we’re in the same house, right?”_

_“You mean we’re in the same boat? You got the saying wrong!” Kuroko grins widely, pleased in teasing the red haired boy who blushed immediately in complete horror from his mistake._

_He growls, “I-I’m not dumb! Okay?!”_

_Kuroko continues giggling despite his best efforts to stop laughing at the poor boy. He wheezes out, “I-I don’t think you’re dumb! You just said it wrong!”_

_“Hmph. What’s your name? I’m Kagami Taiga. Son of the blacksmith in this city!” Kagami hollers out, grinning proudly at the end while puffing out his chest in a extremely cheesy manner._

_Kuroko stops his fit of giggles and forces himself into only a light smile that would be barely noticeable, “The blacksmith? I never met him, but that’s cool. I’m Kuroko Tetsuya. It’s nice to meet you.”_

_“Kuroko? You mean the chief priest family name Kuroko?!” Kagami blurts out loud, eyes going wide and leaning in excitedly, “you live in that giant house right?! The one with the HUGE windows! It looks like a palace!” his eyes are so excited that Kuroko can’t force himself to stop the boy from continuing, “It’s even better than the temple Murasakibara-sama resides in!”_

_Kuroko scoffs. “Not really. It’s not that fun. The place is TOO big - it takes forever to find my parents in it - and - I - uh- want to live in a small place, so that we would be closer together!”_

_“Hmm...I guess you’re right.” Kagami smiles, his smile is so big and blinding that Kuroko can feel his heart swell at the close of those red eyes and the joking manner he gives a thumbs up at Kuroko._

_Kuroko can only lean over closer, their legs crossed and facing one another._

_Their heads were close and Kuroko’s stubborn messy hairs touch the long strands poking out from Kagami’s hair - messy like his own, but a little neater._

_“Kagami-kun, that’s a nice name though! We should meet here every day! At this time!” Kuroko explains, eyes shining brightly. His toes wriggle in excitement, nearly touching Kagami’s bright green flip flops._

_“Meet here? Sure, that would be fun - I’ll try to whenever I can!” Kagami beams down to him and Kuroko snatches his hand and wraps his pinky around Kagami’s, his smile unwavering all the while._

_“Pinky promise?” Kuroko asks, wide eyes reflecting a hope that even Kagami could notice was there._

_“Pinky promise,” Kagami nods, eyes closing with that beautiful smile of his._

_Kuroko and Kagami talk for an hour - about their families and who they know - and their small city. Kuroko leaves when forced to, knowing it will get dark soon and with a wave to Kagami who waves the most wildly he’s ever seen, before swimming quickly back home._

_Kagami and him were friends. They were friends that will grow into being best friends. He knows it._

_Those red strands were burned into his memory even after he closed his eyes for a good night’s rest in the evening. The soft hairs still feeling as though they were slipping through his fingers. He curls against his warm sheets, fingers clutching at the water, imagining Kagami’s hairs between his stubby fingers lulling him to a deep sleep._

...

“So...I heard from your Dad you went to bed early?” Momoi questions after nibbling at her small piece of grilled fish. “Are you catching up with your sleep before school?”

Kuroko stabs a piece of his food with his chopstick, eyes glaring at the piece of food darkly.

“ _Yes._ "

Momoi grimaces despite Kuroko not seeing her do so, large pink eyes blinking down at him. “Something happened...” she leans her chin over her right hand, elbow jutting onto the table, “It’s about school, isn’t it? Every time I bring it up to Dad he’s on edge - at least until this morning.”

Kuroko munches on his food, his mouth full, “Mmhat wakes tense.”

“Don’t speak with your mouth full!” she glares, pointing her chopsticks at him accusingly.

He clears his throat, “I meant to say, that makes sense.”

She tilts her head, “What?”

Kuroko sighs, shoulders shrugging before letting the news come out as though it means nothing, “We aren’t going to school at Seirina.”

She blinks at him and giggles, “Good one!” 

Kuroko stares at her seriously, his face not betraying any emotions.

“That was a joke, right?” she crackles, rubbing the back of her head with wide eyes, “...I’m still waiting for the punchline…”

“It’s not a joke,” he snaps harshly, stabbing another piece of food. “I thought you wouldn’t be the one to laugh - maybe Takao, but not you.”

She gapes, “Oh…. _oh_...we’re _not_ going to school at Seirina….”

Kuroko nods, eyes lowering to his food, and brows furrowing when deciding on what to eat next. Some of this fish didn’t appear pleasant _at all_. Somehow the fact that they didn’t appear appetizing in the slightest reminds him of Kagami’s beautifully cooked meals - how mouthwatering and vibrant they appeared. Bursting in colour just as his bright red hair does. That red hair that became specifically referred to as - Kagami red. It is his specific type of red like nothing else in this sea Kuroko has ever laid his pale eyes on. His eyebrows crinkle even further and he stabs another piece of fish, pale eyes going dark in the shadows casted from light trailing into the room through the tall windows behind him.

Kuroko glances up, realizing that Momoi has finally connected the dots. She gives him a pointed look, “We’re going to the surface world, so what’s your problem? There’s no need for dark glares this early in the morning.” 

She stands abruptly, Kuroko knowing from her bright eyes that she got an idea in her head, a giant smile spreads onto her face, “We should tell Kagami-kun! We _have_ to tell him the news, we should” -

“I already told him.” He bites harshly, not meaning to sound so angry, but it coming out automatically.

Last night he’d dreamed of an endless abyss of ominous waves of water, his body unable to reach the surface. Normally Kagami would be in his dreams trying to help him reach it - and sometimes they would, with Kagami pulling him up the last leg of the journey with his tanned forearm stretching out towards him. With Kagami’s grip pulling him forward and his very own legs feeling like jelly but fruitlessly kicking nonetheless. But in this dream Kagami wasn’t there - not the one he had last night. He just kept getting lost in the dark waters, that were playing tricks on him and leading him to places he’s never seen before. He cried silently in those dark tortuous waters eating him alive and had woken up to dry tears on his cheeks. 

He felt like an idiot.

And now he was angry. _Furious_ that Kagami said those things after knowing full well that he loves the surface - and wants to meet it’s people. Kuroko bets they're far nicer than Kagami ever was. He violently stabs another piece and shoves it into his mouth.

Momoi slowly sits back into her seat across from him. Their regular breakfast seems to have taken a far tenser atmosphere. “Er… so you told him.” She looks at Kuroko with silent worry, the kind that Kuroko isn't in the mood for seeing.

“Can we just not talk about it?” Kuroko desperately pleads, not wanting to think of the bright haired teen he once called his best friend. Who practically broke his heart yesterday, without batting an eye.

Momoi gives him a knowing look meaning ‘you’re not getting out of this and I’ll draw this out of you no matter what you big idiot’, but she only smiles, changing the topic completely. She talks about how her Dad nearly flipped that she wouldn’t be eating with him this morning, snorting at how nerdy he was to think it was bad luck not to have breakfast together every day. 

Momoi was always great at this, letting him forget things he’d rather not know of - the dark thoughts running through his mind slip away, leaving only a empty feeling in his chest, where Kagami normally belongs. Momoi’s unwavering resolve in making him feel at home is what fills the hole slowly but surely, until he can actually laugh genuinely and seek out his parents to talk with them.

The morning felt empty, but somehow Momoi had made it anything but lonesome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ouuuu. Kuroko is pissed. Momoi is such a great friend ;)
> 
> tell me what you guys think - I actually planned on making this longer, but I split it up into two chapters (this was literally only half of what I wrote) so I will likely post the other half soon, since I have it already written out, just editing and stuff to do.
> 
> tell me what you guys think! :) for once I have an actual written out plan in mind for this, I just need to fill in the long spaces in between the gaps :D


	3. Just us, it seems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A visit to the temple ensues. Enter Murasakibara-sama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an early update, because I can! :)

“Tetsu-kun?” Momoi shouts up ahead, long pink hair perfectly sculpted into a long braid that swings behind her, floating up in her movements. The hand-woven sunhat sitting on her head casts a dark shadow over her face. Kuroko couldn’t really see her smile from this distance - but he still knew it to be prevalent on her flushing cheeks. The pink haired girl continues, “Did you get the offerings?”

Kuroko simply gives her a thumbs up before turning to his Mother, who is smiling gently down at him, her pale hair - matching his very own - tied up in a tight ponytail for today. She smiles kindly, grey eyes calm in a way that relaxes him that Momoi simply could not. His mother, Aki Tetsuya, was one of the most beautiful woman he thinks he’s ever seen - well, Kuroko was biased, since it is his mother - but Kagami had thought so when he first met her. He remembers the red haired young and innocent version of Kagami mumbling that she had ‘eyes that were like clouds ’ and that ‘her smile was pretty’. Thinking of it now left a bitter taste in his mouth - the nostalgic memories now feeling almost pale to what he thought they once were. They were now only shrouded in complete suspicion - had Kagami always been like this - so rude to him, did he plan to hurt him like this all along? 

His mother reminds him, her mouth moving as the afternoon sun sets light contours on her face, “Don’t stay out in the sun for too long, hurry back home when you’re done…”

_Even that small puny Kagami-kun, with large red eyes that I once thought were reincarnated from a large fire breathing dragon? No. No child could ever do that_ , Kuroko ponders internally, eyes looking behind his mother’s head.

“...okay?” his mother finishes, eyebrows raising up at him for confirmation.

Kuroko tries his best to nod convincingly, wondering to himself what exactly his mother had even stated. Momoi shouting at him to hurry up behind him snaps him back to the present - ah yes, they were going to bring some offerings to Murasakibara-sama, some of the ones his mother helped the servants make last night. 

Kuroko waves while turning to his friend who is already hopping her way up ahead, her freshly painted turquoise toenails shimmering in the water. He wobbles up beside her, his arms straining to hold the large basket of goods his mother handed him. 

Momoi eyes the basket, “your Mom went overboard again, didn’t she?”

“Yes,” he replies quickly, a light smile almost perching itself on his face. But it doesn’t quite fall naturally - he probably appears like he’s grimacing to Momoi. He hopes she continues talking, he needs a distraction - thinking about Kagami right now is not an option. Or else he’ll endlessly be drowning in their old memories and contemplating whether or not their friendship even occurred. Kuroko can’t handle doubting that special friendship - not ever. 

He waddles on, with Momoi slowing her pace to match his. Kuroko is about to ask her about how her Father seemed this morning, hoping to get insight on the plans for school - when he hears the familiar loud voice of Takao yelling up ahead, “Heyyy! Kuroko-kun!! Momoi-chan!!” 

Takao is practically floating up and down in the air, heels bouncing against the pavement, no shoes like usual - toes all out and naked in the waters as he waves enthusiastically - then Kuroko’s blue orbs automatically meet red. And he knows. He _knows_ that this will not end well.

Takao is completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere, still waving despite Momoi and him slowing their pace. Momoi promises with a whisper that is somehow reassuring, “Don’t worry, I’ll handle this...” before waving back with a wide grin and greeting Takao back equally as enthusiastically.

Kagami is standing there, tanned arms flexing as he holds a much smaller basket - one filled with foods that Murasakibara-sama likely enjoys. Because Kuroko had told Kagami a long, long time ago, when they were practically still slobbery little boys, what types of food the guardian god likes best. Thinking this now, as Kagami just stares, not even smiling and small eyes serious, Kuroko knows that Momoi will not be able to get him out of this.

Kagami wouldn’t let him. They would talk whether or not Kuroko agreed to it.

Kuroko wasn’t the type to make a scene.

He hopes that Momoi can understand the silent look he gives her and she seems to have read him like a book because not a moment later she’s grasping onto Takao’s hand and bursting with joy, “Oh my god, Takao-kun, you look so amazing today!” she slides her arm over his shoulder as she walks forward with him, up ahead, “where did you get that shirt from?”

Takao is definitely not buying it and strains his head over his shoulder, “Hey! What’s going” - Takao is then muffled by a strong hand tightening around his mouth as the capable pink haired girl expertly leads Takao away. Her movements are rough, but Kuroko knows she means well - and will likely apologize to Takao afterwards.

Kagami is still standing there - not saying a word. It made Kuroko uneasy. 

Kagami normally does the talking - it wasn’t always worthwhile, or intelligent as a matter of fact, but it still occupied Kuroko’s mind, it still filled the awkward silent moments with laughter and small smiles. It was still _there_.

But now that it’s not, the world feels a lot emptier once more, and Kuroko can’t help but hate it. Wanting it to end already so that Kagami can stop looking so silent and good-looking at the same time in a black muscle shirt and baggy sweatpants that fall over and partially hide is bright yellow - like a rubber duck for god’s sake - flip flops. Kagami looked great - and Kuroko felt like someone who got their entire body infested with fish eggs. He felt that shitty in this moment.

Since Kagami doesn’t say anything, Kuroko reluctantly mutters, “Why are you staring?”

Kagami widens his eyes, before looking down at his basket, then at Kuroko’s giant one. The taller teen eyes him for a long time before roughly dropping his own basket to the ground. 

“Your basket.”

Kuroko is seriously lost.

“What?” he raises an eyebrow. His arms were burning - god was that distracting, what exactly is Kagami speaking about?

Kagami closes his eyes, annoyance flashing on his features. He seethes, “ _Your basket_ , give it to me.”

“My basket?” Kuroko asks, eyebrows drawing in, “why do you need it?! What, you planned on giving mine to Murasakibara-sama and claim it as your own?!” 

Kuroko blurted that out without thinking really, eyes narrowed in fury that he didn’t even plan on lashing out right in this moment. He planned to act calm and indifferent, but his true colours always pour out around Kagami - he really can’t hold back his feelings around the brash teen standing before him.

Kagami clenches his fists, kicking his own small basket in front of him, the blanket that is checkered-red and tucking away all the baked goods nearly falls out of the basket in the process. “I’m trying to help you! God! Your arms are hurting, right?!”

Kagami doesn’t even wait for a reply and saunters over. So close to Kuroko that they were practically touching - well - Kagami’s waist was touching the very large basket he’s trying so very hard not to let go of. How embarrassing to have to rely on the same guy who he swore to be angry at for what he did the night before. It was so horrible that he couldn’t help but wonder if someone had done this on purpose, just to humiliate him even further. 

Kuroko stubbornly glares, “No. I don’t need your help, I’m perfectly capable of holding this on my own!”

Did Kagami always think he wasn't capable?! That he can’t hold a simple basket all the way to Murasakibara-sama’s temple? Who cares if he planned on guilt tripping Momoi into helping him out anyways, the point is that Kagami is practically flaunting what he doesn’t have right in his face. That he’s better than him - that he can hold a damn heavy basket without a break of a sweat! 

He grits his teeth, “Move away,” and dodges Kagami’s outstretched hands, “Did you always think I can’t handle holding a simple basket to the temple?! Or is this just because you’re angry about last night?”

Kagami’s face goes red, he splutters, “Me? Angry?! I’m not angry - you’re the one who’s angry and yelling at me for trying to help a friend out!”

Kagami is gasping for air from yelling so loudly and the silence that ensues is far more awkward than Kuroko expects - he thinks that the silence from the night before when he overheard his father’s conversation was a small plankton in comparison to a giant whale of a silence that was occurring right now. Or was it just because he’s experiencing it first hand? Kuroko wasn’t sure. All he knew was that this silence was bothering him equally the same. Grating him the same way, but worse, because it was with Kagami that he was experiencing it with. His very own best friend. 

Kuroko can't stop the words from spilling out. Like disgusting word vomit all over Kagami’s extremely nice looking shirt. 

“Are we friends?”

Kagami looks at him as though he just asked if Kagami’s hair was red. As though Kuroko was blind and seriously unaware of what was going on.

“What do you mean are we friends?! Of course we fucking are Kuroko!” Kagami spazzes, arms flying into the air violently, “I can’t believe just because we had a little fight that you’re questioning our freaking friendship…” 

Kuroko continues on giving him a hard look, shoulders still tense as he holds the heavy basket weighing him down relentlessly.

Kagami sighs, “Are you really that worried about us?” his hand is scratching the back of his neck and his eyes are genuine. No malice or hatred. Maybe a hint of regret and a deep worry underlying them. But that’s it. Nothing what Kuroko expected. He supposed he must have overreacted, somehow he felt extremely tired. He clenches his hands around the basket’s hard edges and stares at his shoes, brown loafers and nothing special in the slightest.

Kuroko shuffles on his feet, then croaks quietly, “...we never fought before.”

Kagami growls out, “Of course we have.”

Kuroko shakes his head. “Not like this.” 

“...I know...I know…” Kagami appears sad, but nonetheless there is a small smile appearing on his face. It isn’t forced or anything - which relieves the tension left in Kuroko’s heart.

Kuroko’s arms are shaking by now and he mumbles, “My arms, they’re tired…”

Kagami takes the basket. “You’re strong - stronger than you think you idiot. You can take mine - that one’s pretty freaking heavy too I might add.”

Kuroko can't help but chuckle at how light Kagami’s basket is in comparison - he felt like Kagami was lying to only make him feel better and somehow those words felt incredibly sweet. 

Kagami mumbles, “m’ sorry.”

“Mhmmm.”

“I just...don’t like talking about...feelings...n’stuff.”

Kuroko nods, “I know...Kagami-kun’s more of a doer rather than a thinker.”

Kagami’s voice loudly barks, red eyes narrowing, “I can _think_ you asshole! It’s just...I wanted it to be _us_ you know?”

“Yeah, I know. It would have been fun for all of us to go up there - after finding a way together to reach it.” Kuroko calmly replies as they continue walking - side by side.

There is a silent moment - the two of them left in a comfortable silence, at least for Kuroko. Since his anger has evaporated into thin air. 

Kuroko turns his head to Kagami, who avoids his piercing blue eyes, chin angling to the right. Kuroko tilts his head in curiosity, wondering why Kagami is avoiding his gaze.

Kagami practically whispers, voice soft, “No - I mean… _just us_.”

“ _oh_.” Kuroko utters loudly - louder than he usually speaks, the implications of Kagami’s statement finally sinking in.

“ _Yeah_ ,” Kagami bites back, sounding a little annoyed that Kuroko didn’t understand what he was trying to say - slightly offended that he didn’t realize it. Kuroko blames Kagami for wording things so complicatedly.

Kuroko furrows his eyebrows, face scrunching up in a frown, “Kagami-kun...you could have just” -

Kagami flicks him on the head, just as they arrived to their friends, turning the last corner to reach the temple, “shut up ya idiot - we’re here, no need for apologies or whatever - I was being an insensitive buffoon, like you always say I am.”

Kuroko is about to protest - that he was being sensitive - just not out loud so that Kuroko could freaking tell, but Kagami is already startling Takao by shoving the basket into his unsuspecting arms. Takao nearly falls over and Kagami laughs loudly. 

Takao teases, grey eyes sparkling in mischief, “Your lover’s quarrel is over?” Kagami slaps Takao roughly on the back - probably leaving a red handprint on Takao’s innocent skin. Takao wails while nearly falling on his face in the midst of wild laughter - a sight that was very strange for Kuroko to witness. Momoi scolds Kagami indignantly, eyebrows furrowing, but revealing a ghost of a smile showing she’s relieved that the two are back to normal.

The smile he gives Momoi as a thank you, is a confirmation of that fact. She returns it with a wink only he could see - he knows it’s a hearty you’re welcome accompanied by a look that tells him he’ll likely be interrogated later, not only for the make up, but also about the actual fight they had itself.

Kuroko found it to be silly now that he thought about it. How he hadn't noticed the obvious worry and desperate need to showcase his apologies and to make it up to Kuroko all at once - by holding his basket for him. The night before finally made sense.

How silly. It was _really_ silly.

Kuroko had felt the same way - though he doesn't like to admit it to himself, let alone to Kagami in person.

It was far too embarrassing.

He wanted it to be the two of them seeing the surface world together as well - experiencing it on their own in their own personal little paradise. Exploring it all - just having fun up there and coming back to Kagami’s welcoming home for a satisfying dinner that would fill his stomach up and bring a grin to his otherwise expressionless face. Yes, he had dreamed of it too.

And he doesn’t plan on letting that dream go by - this new situation only allowed them a greater opportunity - one that Kuroko wouldn’t pass up. A freeby to do whatever they wanted in the surface world - if him and Kagami could explore on their own, he knows for certain Kagami will have a change of heart. He’ll finally understand the positives about the surface world.

He’ll get it soon enough. They’ll both get it. 

Kagami will get to understand the truth of the surface people and Kuroko will finally get one of his other dreams to come true.

For Kagami to finally understand Kuroko and his views - fully and truly.

...

Kuroko had always thought Murasakibara-sama did not look like a god. Or a guardian for that matter.

When he first laid eyes on him - or _knew_ who he was laying his eyes on - he thought the god was simply a normal person like everyone else in their city. He thought that Murasakibara-sama with his lanky body and tall proportions was just a little bit extravagant from the rest of the others - a little unique. 

But no, he was a god. 

One that dressed like the average citizen - with rolled up grey sweatpants, coupled with a plain black long sleeve shirt that he rolled up also - he even wore shoes sometimes, Kuroko heard that he followed the trending clothing of the time period. The god revealed only the ends of swirling blue ink on his pale neck, Kuroko was never sure on what the ink illustrated - thought maybe the secrets of the sea - seen in the swirls of dark and light blues, but he would never know for certain. 

As the city changed, so did he. He supposes that’s why no one really stopped going to him - he was just so much like them all it seemed stupid to not visit a god that really could reflect who you are. 

Obviously not fully reflect who you are. 

Murasakibara-sama was hardly a reflective copy of Kuroko. In fact - he was anything but that.

“Kuro-chin?” Murasakibara-sama drawls out, head lazing atop his hand, eyes appearing incredibly bored. Though, who could blame him with being cooped up in the temple all day, with only petty city matters to attend to, and snotty little kids that climb all over him. The tall, imposing, but child-like guardian drones on, “You’re back here again?”

Kuroko clicks his tongue, at the horrible nickname he received since he was a newborn baby. He stares back emotionlessly, “My mother wanted me to give you these offerings on behalf of everyone working at my home.”

Murasakibara raises an eyebrow, “Oh? Is that so?” he shuffles closer, long purple hairs falling over the basket of goods as his large eyes scan the contents of it. His arms are holding him up as he sits on his knees, elevated by a tall wooden step higher than them all. He can tell from Kagami’s shuffling on his feet that he’s restless. Momoi, on the other hand is still in her bowed position on the ground, feet tucked under her, while Takao sits on the ground with his legs crossed, and arms holding him up as he leans back leisurely. 

Kagami and him are the only ones standing and the restless shuffling from Kagami is grating on Kuroko’s nerves. He gives Kagami a irked look, but Kagami only raises both of his eyebrows with a smirk as he shuffles on his feet some more. 

Kuroko squints up at him in a silent glare for starting this silent battle in the presence of their guardian of the city - but is distracted by Murasakibara-sama finally taking the damn basket. And god was that thing heavy. After being used to Kagami’s light basket it felt a million times worse.

Murasakibara-sama places the basket next to him, by some other previously bestowed ones - likely form other citizens - then plops back down on his butt, feet dangling over the tall step’s edge. Kuroko goes around Kagami to sit beside Takao who is humming a tune as he closes his eyes. If Kuroko asked him what he was doing, he knew Takao would reply with the all too familiar ‘I’m meditating!’ and Kuroko would only give him a degrading look that the upbeat boy would simply ignore. Kuroko has had this conversation a countless amount of times - and he would rather enjoy some silence so he doesn’t pester Takao about his insane humming of horrible cheesy kid songs and poems - or how drastically divergent it is to meditating.

Kagami awkwardly hands Murasakibara his own basket, “H-here ya go.” He bows his head a little and retreats quickly. 

Kagami has always been horrible at speaking with anyone who’s of any importance - Mayor Toshio, or Kuroko’s very own father for example - know Kagami as either being a courageous and loud boy, but most of the time see him as awkward and unable to look you in the eye. It was only because Kagami felt he wasn’t allowed to be at the temple. 

His family was pretty humble and due to this wonderful quality to have, Kagami always felt like he wasn’t welcome to meet with Murasakibara-sama, simply because his parents didn’t take him ever since he was born. He thought it was a privilege for those who were higher up in status.

Despite the fact Kuroko enlightened him that didn't matter who you are, (Murasakibara-sama could care less really, as long as you bring good tasting food) the temple was open to anyone. Even after Kuroko introduced little Kagami back then, some things never seem to change - for Kagami always says the same awkward line, that follows with a rushed retreat as though Murasakibara-sama is about to curse him. Which the guardian god would be far too lazy to do.

The guardian god, comments, “Kaga-chin, you’ve grown quite tall and strong - it’s good.”

Kagami nods feverishly, “Y-yes!”

The purple giant-like god tilts his head, “You’re all heading to the surface, ya?” he places the light basket beside Kuroko’s ginormous one, before gripping back onto his staff. It was long, made of a wood that appeared almost white and had bumps and grooves that looked painful to place your hands on. The orb sitting at the top always was glowing a blue - a pale blue - like Kuroko’s own irises, but far foggier. Like little clouds you felt you could touch, Kuroko always wished to reach out and his desperate wishful thinking thought he’d meet with fingertips touching clouds - but it was really just a orb. Nothing else. Murasakibara-sama always stared at his staff as though it were about to talk back at him - Kuroko never understood that. 

_Why would he want to speak to a staff anyways?_

Momoi grins, after opening up her eyes from her silent prayers to the sea, “Yes! We’re going soon,” her head turns to Kuroko, “I believe in a few more days, right Tetsu-kun?”

“Yes, two days to be exact,” Kuroko supplies, his voice even. His eyes glance to Kagami who appears a little on edge, likely worried about Murasakibara-sama yelling at them for going to the surface or something.

Murasakibara-sama stares before muttering, “Ah, interesting…” he lets out a small lenient smile, “You all will finally lay your eyes up there, our people have gone up there before and returned safely. I’m sure you will as well.”

Kagami let’s out a relieved exhale and Takao cheers out loud in agreement to Murasakibara-sama’s statement and Kuroko can only internally smile. 

He has a good feeling about all of this, he really does.

...

“I seriously thought he was going to crush one of us! Good thing Kuroko-kun here was around!” Takao jokes, hands crossing behind his head, leaning back and forth on his toes. Kuroko pretends to not notice the irritating action and stalks forward, with Momoi skipping up ahead.

“Quit joking like that - you can’t joke about gods, right?” Kagami looks down at Kuroko expectantly, as though Kuroko were created specifically to enlighten him on the world’s most puzzling questions.

Kuroko snaps, “Kagami-kun, you’re just too jittery around gods, have an open mind.”

Kagami glares down at him, “are you being sarcastic again? And making it seem like you’re not on purpose?!”

Kuroko shrugs with a smug smile, “I don’t know, figure that out yourself.”

Kagami yells out grumpily in frustration as he ruffles his hair, Takao bubbles up in laughter - which is very much his general reaction to absolutely everything.

Takao hops forward, planting his feet on the street near his home, he wipes away a stray tear from laughing so hard, “Sorry guys, I would love to hear more about how stupid Kagami is - but I gotta head back - my dad’s going back to Yosen again.” Takao makes a disgusted face from this piece of information, none of them were really fond of the obnoxious people from Yosen. Even Takao’s kind father thought them to be obnoxious and the guy fathered _Takao_. He must be pretty damn patient. 

Takao waves, “so my Mom’s forcing me to help with dinner and cleaning the house and stuff before he leaves! I’ll see you all around!”

They all wave and Kuroko turns to Momoi who apologetically smiles, “I would love to hang out too, but you know how my Dad is - now with me going up to the surface he wants me to be around him a million times more,” she grimaces, “cheesy, I know.”

The two wave as Momoi wishes them goodbye, yelling at Kagami to make sure Kuroko doesn’t get himself into any trouble before he gets home. Kagami yells back that he can’t stop him (quoting Kagami’s words ‘the stubborn idiot’) from doing anything, Kuroko gave him a strong elbow in the gut for that one.

Kuroko states, “just us, I suppose.”

“Video games?” Kagami questions as he points his thumb over his shoulder, towards his place.

Kuroko didn’t really need to answer that question, Kagami was already turning before he even saw Kuroko take a step forward.

...

Kuroko and Kagami bump shoulders as they make their way down Kagami’s home’s street. Most of the homes they pass are empty, the ones who left the city for the overflowing but extremely rich city of Yosen - that always felt like an overbearing and unfathomable heaven in comparison to the humble city of Seirina. The houses were a little worn down on this side of the city, the walls breaking and degrading many houses to dust.

Now that it’s almost evening, the place felt eery, the water chillier, meaning it’s likely raining up on the surface. Just when the weather seemed to be promising too. Kuroko hopes it’s not cloudy when they finally reach the surface, he would like to be able to reach the sun with an outstretched hand to the sky. Or at least feel like he can reach it.

The white walls are pale and the roofs feature old dirty blue tiles, that likely were a vibrant blue in the past. The repairs on this side of the city were drastically needed, but they just never seemed to happen. Other families just left, dropping their businesses and taking their entire family with them, done with the Mayor and the chief priest who never listened to any of their demands.

But a few humble people kept living on, despite the sad state of their own home - including Kagami’s wonderful family. When he was little he used to worry about Kagami suddenly moving away. He nearly cried in front of his Father once, to beg him to fix Kagami’s street at least. Those worries were in vain, Kagami snapped him out of those unnecessary feelings with a bear hug and a rough noogie that whooped him back into shape. 

Kuroko remembers it now as he’s staring up at the back of Kagami’s red head, the days he would dream of Kagami’s street being rebuilt and Kagami sleeping over at his place in his room while the repairs ensued. Kuroko after those recurring dreams had complained about it and that was when Kuroko first began sneaking off to Kagami’s room at night. Of their small backs sleeping soundly against one another. Kuroko felt a wave of nostalgia swell up in him at the remainder of those precious moments in time, when it was simply the two of them lying side by side and dreaming of places they could possibly see together.

He still feels the waves of nostalgia as Kagami makes his way up his apartment complex, to the second floor and up the old wood stairs that were filled with moss. Kuroko recalls him slipping on these damn steps a countless amount of times - Kagami blaming his horrible athleticism, Kuroko would rather like to think it as that the steps simply disliked his presence in this building - he would rather swim up through Kagami’s window, but greeting Kagami’s family was always a treat in it’s own way. 

Kuroko somehow survives the atrocious stairs and the pair make their way down the deck, noticing a familiar figure shuffling on each of their feet, a nervous tick of theirs, as they hesitated in knocking on Kagami’s closed door. Room number 10, in a rusty steel hanging against the indifferent door that stares back at the nervous visitor.

Kagami questions abruptly, “Your Mom’s out again?”

Furihata, face shadowed before by the roof over their head, turns, the side of his face becoming visible, revealing messy brown hair - maybe even messier than Kuroko’s on this day and widened small brown irises. The boy practically jumps in the air at Kagami’s sudden question.

Furihata nods before Kuroko gets the chance to scold Kagami for scaring the shit out of their friend. Kuroko has known Furihata since Kagami introduced them - and the boy was a little jittery and often nervous about trying anything that he isn’t used to, but loves reading as much as Kuroko does. Which is hard to find in this city. The last book Momoi read was some romance vampire sea people novel that left Kuroko cringing. Furihata was a breath of fresh air in comparison. The boy also coincidentally lived right next door to Kagami. Yet, despite this fact he still seems uneasy to just knock on Kagami’s door to see if he was home. 

Kuroko sometimes could not wrap his head around Furihata’s logic.

Kagami grins from ear to ear, looking completely ridiculous. Kuroko could see it from his peripheral vision for god’s sake.

“Great, you can eat over at my place,” he walks up beside Furihata and grips his shoulder lightly, “My Mom’s been dying to feed that small body of yours Furi - I swear I thought she’d kill me if I didn’t bring you over.” Furihata laughs a little at that, his left hand scratching his head sheepishly as he apologizes under his breath.

Kuroko smirks up at Kagami, “As though you aren’t eager either - you do most of the cooking, Kagami-kun.”

Kagami scowls and Kuroko receives Furihata’s loud giggles in response to his teasing of Kagami.

Kagami rolls his eyes, “You two are like kids. God.”

...

_It is a bright spring day, in May, when Kuroko first meets Kagami’s highly praised friend (straight from Kagami, of course) by the name of Furihata Kouki._

_Kuroko, when the mention of this boy Furihata kept coming up at first felt, though he hated to admit it - a little jealous. For Kagami always talked about Furihata so fondly, he had so many stories with the mysterious boy he knew nothing about. It’s not that Kagami and him didn’t have any stories to recount, Kuroko himself rambled on and on about them to Momoi._

_The point was, Kuroko really wanted to know more - besides stories - what he wanted to know was how close Furihata and Kagami were. He wasn’t jealous. No. Not jealous at all._

_“And then - Furihata nearly caused the axe to fall onto that poor fish’s head and…” Kagami tilts his head to the side, eyes peering down at Kuroko, “are you listening?”_

_“Kagami-kun…” Kuroko breathes out, hands absentmindedly picking at the bay grass they are sitting on, “I-is Furihata your friend?”_

_“Huh?” Kagami utters, eyebrows shooting up in puzzlement, “where did that come from?”_

_Kuroko looks away from Kagami’s fervent stare. He offers, “Uh, it’s just… you always talk about him - and stuff. I was just asking…”_

_“Oh! Yeah, it’s annoying, right?” Kagami declares, appearing guilty._

_Kuroko’s heart clenched at that expression. “No, no, it’s not that!” Kuroko stares at his open palms, “It’s just...I wanted to know...how close you are…”_

_Kagami waits patiently, his stare unwavering._

_“...with him.”_

_“Oh! Furihata’s different than you, Kuroko!” Kagami blurts out unabashed, voice booming the way it usually does naturally. Kuroko’s heart deflates at that, shoulders slouching in a little disappointment._

‘I’m different from him?’ _Kuroko thinks, hands tightly gripping at the bay grass which is moving at a gentle pace along with the water._

_Kagami abruptly grabs his shoulders and shakes him with a giant smile - practically taking up his entire face, “Furihata’s more like a brother to me! But you! You’re different - like you’re well - you’re Kuroko!”_

_Kuroko’s eyes widen and he couldn’t even question what Kagami meant by that - it was obvious. Him and Kagami were best friends. They really were. And Furihata was like a brother to Kagami - a brother due to their close proximity and the fact that Kagami’s family had him over to dinner for most days - and that’s all there was to it._

_“You should come over again, Kuroko,” Kagami adds at the end of their time together, playing in the grass. Kuroko agrees with a wave and the next day he’s playing a recently released video game developed by some fancy gaming company in Yosen. They play it on the small delusive T.V. that unceremoniously needs to be charged every hour by more red spirit fire, like a petulant child. The game seems promising in comparison to the unreliable T.V._

_The said game features fighting sea people, with a choice of weapons or simply put it the olden days way - with their own fists. Kagami selects fists immediately of course, ignoring Kuroko’s requests and saying he needs to get ‘the full experience of fighters of the sea’. Kuroko had simply rolled his eyes at that, finding Kagami’s obsession with this to be a little overzealous. Kuroko almost beat Kagami - nearly hitting the boy’s imposing character named ‘Urchin’ with an uppercut to the face._

_But he loses by a landslide due to a boy opening Kagami’s small room’s door, the aforementioned door banging against the wall, and a loud shriek ringing out, causing Kuroko’s thumb to slip._

_“TAIGA-KUNNN!!!!”_

_Kuroko’s hands jolt and Kagami grins while taking the final blow. Kuroko glares at him immediately, throwing the controller at Kagami’s face in anger before finally noticing the stranger standing at the door. The boy, who most definitely is neither Kagami’s jolly and loud mother, or his stoic but friendly father who works days and nights at his very own shop near the center of the city. The boy has messy brown hairs, sticking every which way, much like Kuroko’s but the strands falling on his face are longer. His eyes are small and practically tearing up and Kuroko can tell that there is indeed sniffles escaping the ruffled up looking boy._

_Kuroko is about to question who this is, when Kagami smiles brightly, “Furi? Whatcha doing?”_

_‘So this is Furihata?’ Kuroko thinks internally, eyes not thinking this to be the image of the boy he heard of in the stories at all. Furihata looked like any average boy - nothing extravagant like Kagami dubbed him out to be._

_“W-what do you mean?!” Furihata wails, voice cracking in obvious fear, “Y-you need to take this seriously! I-I think the fish that wandered into my room is poisonous!”_

_Kagami echoes, “Poisonous?” he raises a messy eyebrow and Kuroko can't help but chuckle at Kagami’s puzzled expression, as though he’s never heard or seen any poisonous fishes before. It was very Kagami-like now that he thinks about it._

_“What colour is it?” Kuroko asks bluntly._

_“AHHH!” Furihata flies into the air, floating for a little as his hands shoot to his plain yellow shirt, fingers clenching the worn out fabric. “W-who are you?! When did you get here?!”_

_Kuroko sighs, not quite used to gaining this reaction since almost everyone in his home has gotten used to his lack of presence. Kagami still had troubles sometimes, but most of the time he notices Kuroko instantly. He thinks he’ll have to get used to this feeling if he wants to meet new friends._

_Kagami laughs loudly and Kuroko glares at him in annoyance as he supplies, “I get that a lot, and my name is Kuroko Tetsuya, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” he shakes his head at Kagami, “though not in these horrible conditions of Kagami-kun laughing badly in the background.”_

_Kagami stops his laughter and wheezes out, from being sprawled out of the bed, “I don’t have a bad laugh!”_

_“You do. It’s one only a mother can love,” Kuroko grins, though not visibly to the naked eye; he knows Kagami can tell though. Pale eyes are lighting up in silent mischief._

_Kagami covers his face in his hands, groaning, “He’s lying, right Furi?”_

_Kuroko gives Furihata a serious look, and the boy sheepishly admits, “hah, your laugh has always been a little too loud, Taiga-kun.”_

_“See?”_

_Kagami only rolls over face first on his pillow and muttering, “I’m not helping you anymore. Your mean.”_

_Furihata wails, quickly sprinting up beside the bed and roughly shaking the unresponsive red haired boy who stubbornly hides his face in the white pillow further. Kuroko can only hear wails and silent grunting form Kagami along with the distant cheesy video game music emitting from the small t.v. screen sitting innocently atop a makeshift t.v. stand - a cardboard box face down with the flaps opening up on the room’s floorboards._

_“I’m serioussss!” Furihata complains, hands clutching onto Kagami like a cat desperately trying to escape torturous waters._

_“What colour was it?” Kuroko repeats his question, hoping to get a legitimate answer this time, instead of a shriek, unless Furihata suffered from short-term memory loss, which would be a problem for a whole other matter in on itself. The shrieking would no doubt get on Kuroko’s nerves._

_Thankfully, Furihata slowly turns, pausing in his badgering of Kagami, “Ummm...it’s white with reddish stripes, I think? It looked like it had spikes coming out of it too!” Furihata clenches his fists with a close of his eyes, “I think I saw it in a book I read - and I think it’s poisonous or dangerous so I ran away!”_

_Kuroko nods at the description, closing his eyes in thought, before snapping his fingers in realization, “Yes, it’s a lionfish I believe. And it’s venomous, will probably get you seriously sick if you get near its spiky fin rays.”_

_“Oh, god, no!” Furihata screeches out, suddenly barreling himself onto Kagami’s bed and hiding under the covers. Kagami falls unceremoniously onto the ground with the abrupt movement of the sheets, landing face first onto a heap of filthy clothes._

_Kagami groans, before slowing getting up. Kuroko doesn’t help him and simply stares at him amused._

_“Stop it.” Kagami croaks out._

_“Stop what?” Kuroko can’t help but smile a little as he peers down at the grumpy looking Kagami who glares up at him unimpressed._

_“The silent staring.” Kagami pouts out, only mildly annoyed, Kuroko notes from his tone._

_“Your mean, Kagami-kun, comfort poor Furihata-kun.”_

_“You did this to him,” Kagami retorts, and crosses his arms indignantly, eyebrows furrowing._

_Kuroko is about to bite back a retort of his own, but Kagami ends up quickly standing up, before pulling Furihata out from his cocoon of blankets. Furihata puts up a great fight and Kuroko has to assist Kagami with detaching Furihata completely for the blankets. Kuroko thinks Kagami’s sheets will be scratched and worn out completely when he heads to bed later._

_Kagami claps Furihata on the back, “You’ll be fine, your Mom’s gonna be home soon, don’t worry.” He ruffles the shaking boy’s hair and soon enough Furihata’s erratic breathing has calmed to only mildly quick breaths. Which is an improvement in on itself. Kagami rubs Furihata’s shoulders, soothing the boy with no words and merely well-thought out actions._

_Soon enough, they are all sitting down on the floor under Kagami’s bed, with Kuroko and Furihata beginning to discuss the book about different types of fish they both seemed to have read._

_“I really liked that chapter - those fish were my favourite!” Furihata gushes._

_Kuroko smiled lightly, “Yes. That chapter was interesting and I liked the photos they got.”_

_Kagami groans, “You guys are such nerdsss,” he rubs his face roughly in his hands, sounding completely bored, “We need some fun to do…” His head snaps up and he leaps up from the ground, spinning in the water before facing them once more, “Kuroko!”_

_“Yes?” he asks._

_“I dare you to go into the deep sea!”_

_“The deep sea?” Kuroko repeats slowly, thinking Kagami has gone crazy, “this late at night?”_

_“No! Not now! Another time - any time in fact, but I dare your nerdy little butt to go out into the deep sea!”_

_Furihata quickly worries, “T-the deep sea? Taiga-kun, this-this is a bad” -_

_Kuroko smirks, “I’ll do it, but you have to come with to witness it, Kagami-kun, or are you too scared?”_

_“Of course not,” Kagami huffs with a shrug and a little pout, “I’ll be behind you though - cause you have to do it alone!”_

_Furihata looks in between the two hyped up boys, eyes narrowing, “Er… I don’t think this is a great” -_

_“Furi, it’s settled, we’re going to the deep sea, buddy!” Kagami once more, claps his hand on Furihata’s back, not registering what the soft spoken boy was saying because he's too caught up in the moment to be listening properly, “all right?”_

_Furihata recovers from the harsh action and can only nod silently, not denying the idea, but unable to voice his true thoughts out loud._

...

In an all too familiar manner, Kagami, Furihata and Kuroko all begin playing videogames on the upgraded gaming system that was released a few years ago - with far easier controls. Kuroko’s father had complained about how much like the surface world the sea people were becoming, but Kuroko would like to think it was simply the start of new memories and new possibilities for their people.

It was always disconcerting how easily his father trashed the ideas of their very own people - relating it always back to the surface to blame, desperate to put a blame on something. The fact of the matter is that the surface is neutral, they never really care about the sea people, or harbor any visits for that matter. Kuroko likes to think they may have forgotten, or something of that nature. Like a disease that steals one’s memories - Furihata’s mother spoke of those horrible illnesses before. 

Maybe that’s what the surface people have, that must be it.

In between their fun time, Kagami’s mother ducks her head into Kagami’s room, calling them for dinner that for once Kagami didn’t give one hand of help in making - which he pouts about, in an insistently diligent manner. Kuroko is too distracted by the aromas of food to really care. Before they know it they all pile up in Kagami’s room once more, tummies filled with steaming hot foods, keeping Kuroko incredibly warm and fuzzy. They continue playing, Kuroko cursing under his breath every time Kagami gets a great hit on him.

By the end of their video game marathon, that ended with 21 wins for Kagami (the guy had jumped up on his bed like a 5 year old by the end of it), 10 wins for Kuroko (who really should buy this gaming system himself), and 9 wins for Furihata (who profusely apologized with every sneak attack he made), they were all completely spent and barely keeping themselves awake. Kuroko thought the food they were given likely lulled them into a sleepy, half-aware state of mind, that had Furihata pass out out as he wobbled his way into the living room. Falling messily onto the couch, his left arm falling off the edge of the lumpy old couch at an extremely awkward looking angle.

Kuroko himself tries his best to wipe away his drowsiness, half-registering Kagami gently tucking Furihata’s arm into a comfortable position and finishing off his actions with a quilted blanket that snuggly fits around Furihata’s curled up frame.

Kuroko mumbles, “It’s late.”

Kagami can hear the implications of Kuroko’s statement and he lets out a fond smile, not too wide and blinding for the weary Kuroko who rubs at his eyes in the dark living room. If Kuroko glances at the clock now he would likely have a heart attack at how late it is - or how early, it’s likely already well into the early morning.

Kagami stretches his arm out, the toned muscle rubbing around Kuroko’s shoulders and leading him to his bedroom. 

The two old friends clamber into the single bed, really only made for one person and Kuroko curls up against Kagami. Fleetingly, Kuroko senses the familiar soft touch of Kagami’s arms around him. The embrace basks him in a warmth like no other, feeling much more like a home than his own cold house ever felt like.

“G’ night,” Kagami exhales, voice fluttering near Kuroko’s ear. It tickles and leaves his ear feeling warm also, as though Kagami were some hot unwavering fire - that somehow never burned out.

Kuroko supposes he was.

As sleep takes him into its nimble hands, Kuroko distantly thinks this is making up for what didn’t happen last night. 

He falls asleep with quirk of his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, kagami and kuroko do basically already act like a couple - they are simply oblivious, and so is momoi and likely furi (for now), takao likely can already tell - but is simply being quiet about it to keep everyone in normalcy - changing things now would only cause more setbacks than actual progress in kagami and kuroko's relationship. really, people need to figure things out at their own pace.
> 
> on a lighter note, what did you guys think of Murasakibara as the lazy guardian of the city, oh and of course cute little Furi? i would really like to know what you guys thought of it!
> 
> Also, get used to flashbacks, because I will likely put a lot of these in the beginning and towards the end of this series. I'm still uncertain of how many chapters this will span - I have to plan out the beginning still; I already have the ending figured out, just need to reach it first :3


	4. A Touch to the Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of school is upon the sea people of Seirina, what can happen?

Kagami would have liked to sleep in a couple of hours and ignore the bright light shining through his window beside his bed, but really he couldn't with the potential possibility of Kuroko giving him dark glares all day. So alas, Kagami has no other option but to detach himself from the furnace that is his bed, like sleeping on a blissful cloud of sorts. 

Kagami misses the warmth immediately but rubs his eyes to wake himself up for good measure. 

“TAIGA! BREAKFAST IS READY, HURRY UP!” his Mom screeches from downstairs.

Kagami yells back, “I KNOW,” while scratching an itch on his stomach, his shirt riding up a little as he stretches away the fatigue plaguing his mind. 

He sighs, “Today’s the day, huh,” as he stares at his high school uniform hanging on the hook behind his closet door. After staring for a minute or so, he grabs the towel he left on his desk last night and heads over to the bathroom to wash away this weird anxious feeling he's getting. 

When he finally comes down from upstairs, wearing the Seirina high school uniform his parents bought, (expecting him to attend school here) with a bright blue blazer, matching blue tie that Kagami ignored putting on properly (that will likely be discarded into his bag by the end of the day) and a white button up underneath (that he refuses to tuck in), breakfast was ready and steaming hot from the plates on the table and Furihata has seemed to already arrive this morning. The brunette is eating quietly at the table while his Mom idly chats with him.

Furihata is wearing the same uniform, except with a proper tie, neatly tight and in the right place under his neck; though he didn't button up the blazer completely, likely thinking he will get a little too hot if he did so - Furihata often overheats when he gets incredibly embarrassed or nervous. Their suit pants are not comfortable at all, Kagami feeling like the waistband clipping around him is far too tight, the lighter grey colour accentuating the blue perfectly, but Kagami not quite finding himself to care. 

After roughly sliding into the wooden chair by the table and greeting Furihata with a grunt of affirmation, he begins chugging down food quickly, hoping that they can hurry up to get this day over with. He’s always hated first days, but not for the reasons Furihata may not like first days - worried about what others will think of him and the like - no, Kagami simply just doesn’t like how everyone freaks out over it and most likely how many people will stare at them as though they came from another planet. He knows Kuroko is hopeful about the surface people, but for Kagami it’s hard to be hopeful about people who haven't even sent a letter in a decade - hell even a one worded message would have been appreciated. The only contact remotely kept is through the Mayor, but even then it’s mostly strained and he hasn’t gone back up there in years.

He really doesn’t want Kuroko to be disappointed, or else he’ll only get worried about him - which is a bothersome thing in on itself. 

It’s not like he _wants_ to worry, it just somehow happens when it comes to Kuroko. And it’s completely different from when he worries over Furihata getting himself into trouble, no that feeling was more of a brotherly protection, like it was his responsibility to do so. But with Kuroko, it isn’t really his responsibility - they’re best friends, yes, but he should have faith that Kuroko can be fine on his own.

But why does the thought of Kuroko alone always send him on edge?

He shovels down more food, hoping to erase these wandering thoughts in some way or another. Furihata and him chat with his Mom, Furihata doing most of the talking because Kagami has never really been a morning person.

Soon enough, the two are heading out while Furihata talked about how last night he had a nightmare where he was not able to breath on the surface - which isn’t really very much of a surprise, Kagami’s certain the boy has had that nightmare since he was a child. It was always present in their chats in the mornings, it gave a sense of deja-vu for Kagami that he felt a little comfortable in. Something familiar, almost as though they weren’t about to swim up to the surface.

“Hey!!! Guys~!” a voice chirps up ahead, Kagami and Furihata immediately recognize the voice as their heads turn to Takao Kazunari, bright eyed and smiling broadly against the sun that’s glittering through the waters of the morning. The chilly water is still present, but somehow up on the surface it will likely be a lot warmer from what Kagami gathered from his Mom this morning. He thinks Furihata will end up discarding that tie of his as well, with how much that boy can sweat during the first day of school.

They meet at the intersection, and stop by the street sign on the corner, where Takao is swinging around the sign like a child with one arm gripping the pole as he spins around it. Kagami rolled his eyes as Furihata waves hello to the eccentric boy.

Takao pipes up, “just waiting on Kuroko-kun and Momoi-chan~!”

Kagami grunted in approval and Furihata questions, “They’re not here yet? I thought Kuroko would be here first for sure.”

Takao abruptly jumps from his spinning and grips his hands on both of Furihata’s startled shoulders, “Ah, Furi-kun, you’re so observant - and absolutely correct!”

Kagami sighs and rubs his eyes, “Will you please _shut up_ , you do realize how early it is?”

“Kuroko-kun should be here, with that blunt look of his, but acting all secretly excited to go to the surface!” Takao continues without missing a beat, overly positive as usual. Kagami silently glares at the shorter boy who is getting in his and Furihata’s personal space. As though Furihata senses Kagami’s unease he steps to the right, so that there is more space between Kagami and Takao.

Furihata gives a small smile, “I guess you're right, Takao-kun,” laughing awkwardly towards the end under Takao’s excited gaze.

“Yup! Now that Mr. Grumpypants is here, I guess Kuroko will follow soon after!” Takao brightly adds and Kagami immediately grabs the collar of Takao’s white button up shirt - with no tie of course, because this is Takao really, how could the guy waste time putting on a tie? He can barely put time to stick to one conversation topic.

Kagami’s eye twitches in irritation as he seethes, “It’s fucking _7 a.m._ “Yes, that is the time we wake up for school Kagami,” Takao hums, not fazed by the violent behaviour of Kagami.

Kagami shoves Takao away after a second, knowing Furihata is about to have a heart attack from trying to pull them apart anyways. He darkly spits out, “Well at least take into consideration that not everyone is giving bright as fuck puppy eyes and smiling like an idiot in the morning.”

Takao rolls his eyes, “Real mature, Kagami.”

“I’m immature?! You just acted like a two year old swinging around a pole!”

Takao gives him a serious look, “That’s a stripper Kagami. And strippers are not two-year olds, I’d like to remind you. Unless you're into that sort of thing, Kagami-kun?”

Kagami pushes Takao against the street sign, the said sign shakes from the force, “Say. That. Again.”

Takao is giggling profusely and trying to catch his breath, “O-oh, haha!! Your expression though! I-I can’t take this!” Kagami lets him go as the shorter male doubles over in laughter, dropping his backpack onto the ground and rolling around in the bay grass.

Kagami turns to Furihata, feeling as though he is losing his hope in the sea people the longer he stares at Takao. “How can anyone deal with this shit when it’s early in the morning.”

It wasn’t a question and Furihata just gives a helpless shrug and his eyes keep wandering to Kuroko and Momoi’s street - or at least the street they normally walk down to get to their meeting spot. 

This is where they all met up throughout their junior high years, at this dumb street sign that Kagami nearly broke on multiple occasions. By now it’s become seriously bent up, and at an odd angle from the years of anger that Kagami has spilled over it. Kagami absentmindedly wonders if they will all still be able to continue with this tradition - or will things just continue to change more? Will they still meet up like this and get on each others nerves in the early morning water?

Kagami isn’t quite sure what the answer to that will be. He hopes it does, because despite how much Takao pisses him off, he’s still a good friend he trusts. And bickering in the mornings is a routine he’d like to keep.

Furihata ends up helping Takao back to his feet, Kagami mutters, “You finally done your crazy laughing?”

Takao wheezes, “Oh, if only you knew…”

Furihata twiddles his thumbs, “S-so Takao-kun, are you nervous for the first day?” his small irises land on Takao’s piercing blue-grey orbs and he immediately falters voice stuttering quickly, “Not that it seems like you are! No-no you seem totally fine! I-It’s just I thought the first day would be so easy since it would just be us at the school and maybe one or two other transfer students? B-but now that we’re going to the surface I-I don’t know I guess I-I” -

“It’s okay, Fuuri you can be scared, Jesus.” Kagami stills Furihata’s excessive worries with a steady hand resting on the brunette’s shaking shoulder. Furihata turns and meets Kagami’s serious gaze, his shakiness now calming down and he whispers out a mumbled, “thanks, Taiga.”

“It’s nothing.”

Takao’s eyebrows etch into worry as he glances between the two, “Furihata-kun, you okay? If you’re really that nervous maybe you should stay home and” -

“No, no I’m fine.” Furihata raises his chin up, eyebrows furrowing in determination, “I’m going to complete the day if this is the last thing I can do. Plus, home will be boring without all of you here to hang out with.”

Takao grins, draping an arm around the brunette’s shoulder. He hollers, “That’s the spirit, Furihata!”

“I just hope those slow pokes get here already,” Kagami points out, with exasperation, he checks his cell and realizes that they only have 15 minutes to get to school. That’s cutting it a little too close. Kagami knows Furihata will likely die of embarrassment if they arrive any later than they should, he doesn’t want to put any more pressure on the already sweating profusely teen. He’s about to suggest the two head out earlier and that he’ll catch up after, when Kuroko and Momoi finally come into view, the two running towards them in quick steps. Momoi arrives first and bends over to catch her breath, “Gomenasai.”

Takao elbows her lightly, “No worries, you guys just came fashionably late, that’s all.” His bluish grey eyes look up at the surface, “We better hurry if we don’t wanna end up fashionably late in front of a bunch of strangers… to think all those times we almost reached up there and now both of your Dads give the surface to us on a silver platter. Like literally all we gotta do is swim up there and we’re home free - no detention or grounding or volunteer work as some form of punishment.”

“Yeah. It’s weird, isn’t it?” Kagami bites out, trying his best to sound positive and excited but failing miserably. Furihata winces at the frown Kuroko is giving Kagami. The red haired teen hears a whisper from Furihata and can only catch ‘not a morning person’ likely in explanation of Kagami’s sour mood to Kuroko. Kagami pretends to not notice, no, he doesn’t notice the way Kuroko nods and smiles to himself in an extremely endearing manner. Nope, he didn’t notice - not at all.

Takao begins counting his fingers, flitting about the nostalgia of their past, “There’s the time I nearly got caught by that fisherman, or that time Kuroko’s Dad nearly ordered Murasakibara-san to curse us, or the time Momoi-chan nearly threw up all over poor Furihata, or that other time I almost got killed!” 

Kagami puts his face in his hands, groaning audibly, Furihata just chuckles beside him.

“Now our hard work finally paid off!” Takao gives them all a thumbs up, his smile stretching to new levels of extreme happiness.

Kuroko reminds, “We never came close once, thanks to you, Takao-kun.”

Takao pouts, mumbling lightly, “Furi stopped us most of the time, anyways.”

Kagami’s eye twitches and Furihata begins stuttering, “I-it’s dangerous and you guys could’ve seriously-er- gotten” -

“TAKAO!” Momoi snaps, fist clashing against Takao’s head, “Stop bothering Furihata-kun! You’re acting like a big bully!”

Furihata wails, “It’s fine!”

Takao ends up hugging Furihata tightly and runs his mouth in apologies, Momoi looks on with a obvious relief that Furihata is no longer being bothered. Momoi protected Furihata like Kagami did, which often got Kagami to inadvertently approve of Momoi despite how sometimes their personalities clashed in the wrong way. 

“We’re going either way. Might as well get it over with.” Kagami looks up, neck stretching to stare at the surface, his friend’s follow suit, their voices dying in the midst of the silent, and rare moment of inner turmoil they are all feeling. That the day is _really_ finally here. It wasn’t just a magic trick where Kuroko’s father is going to come out along with Murasakibara-san and laugh and say ‘haha, you lose - you actually thought you’d get your way?’ 

No, this wasn’t a trick of the light - or their imagination.

It is really happening.

Furihata and Takao start swimming up to the surface, Furihata a little slower in his pace, Takao slows his quick speed so that they match. Kagami smiles a little at seeing his two friends at ease - especially Furihata. Kagami turns to help Momoi up from tying her shoe, who gives a little huff of resignation before swimming also, his eyes meet pale blue next and he nods silently. 

Kuroko returns the action earnestly and the two are matching up their speeds, water pushing up against them in a familiar way that gets Kagami’s heart and mind reeling.

...

_Kuroko first met Takao in fairly mundane circumstances. Unlike the time he stumbled upon Kagami that seemed like he dropped straight from another universe and into Kuroko’s path, Takao somehow discretely (yes, Takao was somehow discrete) slithered his way into their group of friends. Like an all-knowing diabolical snake._

_It was extremely mundane and under normal circumstances that he met the mischievous and energetic boy with eyes that mold blue and grey perfectly together at the age of 9._

_Takao first appeared smiling broadly, his chest puffing out to their small, yet normal numbered Grade 4 class at the time - about 14 students in total. He grinned, “My name is Takao Kazunari and I’m new to this city! I’m going to be 10 years old soon, and my favourite thing to do is explore! My Dad is a traveler so he brings back souvenirs all the time, and one day I want to go with him to explore.”_

_Kuroko remembers the glint in Takao’s eyes, finding it interesting that he seems so happy to be in their city since so many people have been complaining about inhabiting it recently. He was peculiar in Kuroko’s mind at first. Kuroko also recalls Kagami muttering that Takao seemed weird on their way back home, Satsuki immediately yelled at him for being a bonehead. Furihata suggested they all talk to him tomorrow despite Kagami’s annoyance of the boy. Then again, Kagami didn’t especially enjoy being around extremely energetic people._

_The water was cooler, the start of the second term had only begun, meaning work was bound to pile up on them in early November. Kuroko stared up at the sun flitting through the waters, edging farther away from their view._

_Takao started talking and mingling with everyone in their class - he had a way to be friendly with everyone and Kuroko wondered where the boy would end up. Surprisingly, by the winter break, Takao had managed to integrate himself into their small group of friends. He never knew why Takao flocked to their odd group - with Kuroko being barely noticeable (but for some reason that never seems to be a problem for Takao saying ‘It’s all in the eyes Kuroko-kun!’), Kagami very stand-offish and quick to anger, Satsuki with her rambling on about the celebrity sea people (most of them being over rated teen boys who are ‘new to the business’), and Furihata himself may be the most normal of the group but he’s very timid when it comes to talking to new people. Kuroko didn’t get why Takao chose them - maybe he somehow knew that the rest of the kids would leave, or maybe he just wanted to ensure he had a friendship so he picked the oddest group of all. Kuroko still doesn’t know._

_Regardless, of the nature their friendship stemmed off, Kuroko and the others welcomed Takao into their circle. Takao was fun to be around, kickstarting their ideas in making it to the surface. In a way, he was the one who pushed Kuroko’s ambitions further. His mischievous side being helpful in a way Kuroko didn’t realize at the time. The blue-grey eyed boy was unwavering and solid in his happiness._

_Takao was smiling so brightly all the time, it was hard to think of him as anything but happy._

_Kuroko was a naive child._

...

Kagami’s first thought as him and his friends splash up to the surface is that _holy shit the world is huge_.

The blue sky stretches like a circular globe above their heads, filled with what Kagami remembers learning are clouds. He only saw pictures of them in textbooks and flittingly through the waves of the waters, but out in the air seeing them for himself is completely different. Kagami felt he could reach out and grab one of them if he wanted to, they looked fluffy, almost surreal in a way. Kagami thinks his bed pales in comparison to the cushiony goodness of those first clouds he saw. He hears the gasps of everyone and he can’t help but join in their awed mutterings.

“Holy shit.” Is the first thing he can muster and Kagami hears Momoi yapping, “ _Ohmygod_ , look at how awesome this all looks!”

Kagami absently wonders if humans can fly to the clouds to sit on them - they didn’t learn much in school about the clouds - did the humans fully discover the mysteries of the clouds? Kagami remembers learning about planes from Momoi’s father and how humans could fly from place to place - so does that mean he could take Kuroko with him to the clouds? Hell, maybe they all can go!

His eyes automatically flit to Kuroko whose eyes light up and shine against the sun. Kagami thinks those eyes reflect the blue of the sky in a perfect copy - like a mirror to the sky. “Like what you see?” Kagami asks, hands still threading through the waters to continue treading in place. He decides bobbing his head back in would be a waste since his hair should start drying already. Kuroko turns and allows a small smile to form onto his face, actually his cheeks widen further and Kagami thinks this is the first time Kuroko has smiled so largely - his white teeth actually showing in the light of the sun. 

Kuroko suddenly dives into him, gripping onto his body tightly and his head nudges into his wet chest, the tie floats up oddly against Kuroko’s face, leading Kagami to snort at Kuroko’s ridiculously happy expression.

_I should’ve brought him up here years ago_ Kagami thinks and Kuroko mumbles, “We’re here,” as his eyes stare up at the beautiful island lying in front of them. Boats float near the them, partially blocking of the rocks and sand leading near the waters and the mix of colours from multiple houses sitting amongst specs of green foliage. 

Furihata gasps, after bobbing his head underwater once again, “Uh, can we hurry to the surface? My legs are feeling like jelly already.” Takao giggles as he splashes the brown haired teen with water and yells, “Race you guys to the steps!” 

Kagami grumbles, “like hell you’re getting a head start! YOU ASS!” He dives into the waters, his past idea in staying dry is abandoned in favor of beating the smug-ass Takao. (Who is a cheater he might like to add) 

The island is coming closer into Kagami’s view and at the sight of Takao’s panted leg kicking in front of him, Kagami reaches and grips onto the idiot tightly. He pulls Takao back and rushes forward himself, making their odds a lot more even. Takao giggles, “You’re so stingy!” 

“Shut up!” Kagami yells at him underwater and Takao just rolls his eyes at him.

The only remaining physical evidence of the times the humans remembered the sea people are the ceramic steps leading out from the ocean and onto the pavement of the street. A slicken gateway to the island straight from the sea. Kuroko’s Dad, stated the humans use it as a playground for their children to play on, but Kagami didn’t see the harm in that when the kids can be getting close to the waters. _Isn’t that a good thing? For them to have fun with the water like we do?_ these thoughts relieved Kagami’s worries, since it made it easier to believe that Kuroko’s Dad is wrong in his beliefs about the humans being horrible people. 

He can only hope this turns out well.

Kagami - of course - wins the contest and Takao ends up breathing heavily on the tiled ceramic of blues and greens. Laying half in the tides rolling in over the sleek steps and half out of them. Kagami sits above at the higher steps completely out of the water with the sun facing his back. He thinks his specially fabricated uniform is already dry - but his hair is still as wet as ever, dripping down onto his now dry clothing.

Takao mutters, “Do you think those other stupid sea kids who left the city are jealous that we get to go to the surface?”

Kagami raises an eyebrow, “That came out of nowhere,” he scratches his head, “Dunno - probably not, they didn’t seem as enchanted by up here as let’s say we were.”

“You mean as much as Kuroko is.”

“Same thing,” Kagami replies, with a roll of his eyes and he leans his chin onto his hand, watching as the others slowly make their way over.

Takao states, “Hey. It’s going to be fine. No need to worry.” He flips back up from lying down face first in the water, blue-grey eyes snatching the attention of irritated red irises.

“I’m not worrying.”

Takao shakes his head, hands on his hip, “sure thing, _Mom_.” Takao’s uniform is now dry also, his smirk shining against the light of the sun. His ivory strands stick to his forehead and Kagami realizes this is the first time he’s seen any of his friends with wet hair sticking to their faces. They’ve never once reached the surface. And they finally did it.

Kagami chuckles as he pats the seat beside him. Takao crashes up beside him not long after. Nearby seagulls swoop around the waters in the distance and Kagami’s eyes stay trained on the rare pale blue hair that bobs up from the darker blues of the water.

Kagami feels Takao’s eyes burning on the side of his face, but Kagami can’t bring himself to actually shake his eyes off of Kuroko’s form.

...

Kagami finds himself surprisingly staring down at his very own homeroom teacher. Really, he shouldn’t be surprised since amongst his group of friends he is taller than the average sized person - but still it shocked him that he had to angle his head lower to meet the piercing blue eyes of his new teacher. They were far darker than Kuroko’s pale blue orbs and these ones were eyeing him and his friends in the Principal's office in a studying manner. Kagami thought his Sensei would be taller, but maybe it was due to Momoi’s Father and Murasakibara being quite tall. Momoi’s Father was around the same height as himself and Kagami thought of him as a higher figure to look up to - he was the Mayor of their city after all.

Kagami felt goosebumps working up his forearms even with the warm heat from the sun casting light through the broad windows of the principal's office. The blue eyes of his new Sensei landing on him cause him to shift on his feet. He felt as though he were standing in front of Murasakibara-sama again - except in reality he’s miles away from them and in this moment Kagami finds himself missing the familiar ease of breathing in water and floating around. He definitely felt out of his element with the gravity grating against him - it wasn’t as bad as how Furihata was handling it, with his legs being a little shaky since he planted his feet on the ground of the island, but he still felt like _a literal fish out of water_. 

Takao is bouncing on the balls of his feet and staring out the window and the movements Kagami can tell is grating on Kuroko’s nerves by the second but he doesn’t mention it, not when the head of the high school is meeting them and gaining his first impressions of their entire species. Kagami needs to represent his family properly - he promised his Mother he would behave and try to be less scary. It’s hard to do when he’s so uneasy about the environment he’s in. 

Kagami wistfully thinks it would be much easier to just run off and explore the island instead of doing work in a boring school - but education is ‘important’ so he’s got no other choice but to follow through with these decisions.

The Principal sits leisurely, his brown hair sits up perfectly (likely gelled) as if defying the gravity Kagami is still uncertain about and the older man has a reassuring smile on his face that reaches his eyes in an honest manner. Kagami finds that he can trust this man, who introduces himself, “My name is Otsubo Taisuke, and I’m the principal of this school. It’s unfortunate the circumstances that we must meet and I’m sorry to hear about what happened to your school, but we are happy to have you all here. Your homeroom teacher,” Otsubo-san gestures to the smaller man who finally stops staring at them so intensely to nod his head down to the principal, “is Kasamatsu-san, he’s among our best teachers and I think you will all enjoy his teaching methods. I hope your stay at this school is long and fruitful in pursuing your future careers.” Otsubo-san sounds uncertain towards the end, which isn’t really his fault since he likely was never told as to what careers there are in the city of Seirina. 

The principal finishes, “The city of Seirin is lucky to have you all here.” He turns his head to Kasamatsu-san, “You can bring them to their class. Don’t hesitate in coming to my office for any problems or questions at all, oh and if I see you in the halls don’t forget to say hi! To the other students they think I’m scary, but I really don’t bite.”

Kagami felt as though Otsubo-san was the least likely person to seem scary, so he nods his head in response while the others reply with a, “yes, Otsubo-san.”

Kasamatsu-san waves a hand holding folders over in a motion that tells them to head out and the teacher nods to Otsubo-san before following them all out of the classroom. Kagami slows his pace so that Kuroko is by his side. Kasamatsu leads them and starts speaking while turning his head, “It’s interesting to finally meet you all. Sorry if I seem a little disorganized or out of it - this all happened fairly out of the blue, so the preparations had to have been done in a few days.” The teachers blue eyes flash to their uniforms, “Sadly, we still don’t have uniforms made in the specific manner you all need so for now your old ones will have to do. Though - as I pointed out to Otsubo-san it makes you all stand out very much. So I’m sorry about that as well - we want you all to feel a part of our school, not like outsiders.”

Kasamatsu seems genuine enough, even while quickly walking down the hall. The short man is dressed in a white button up, grey suit pant and a navy tie that hangs tightly against his straightly defined collar. 

He suddenly stops and takes a turn down another hall, they all scurry behind him and make their way into their new classroom. Kagami is greeted by 20 pairs of eyes on him at once - maybe even more, he’s not sure - and he felt like he’s never seen so many people who are the same age as him in one room. And he remembers his Mother saying these schools normally have at least _three classes_ for each grade. This gigantic school pales in comparison to their small and quaint school. Well no longer a school - now it’s just sitting there empty and being a waste of space. Kagami then realizes that Momoi’s father may be forced to take their schools down at some point. The thought of that left his heart feeling a little empty, since it had so many fond memories of his childhood taking place in it.

Kasamatsu shouts to the class, “Listen up! As I mentioned a few minutes before, these new students are here from the underwater city of Seirina, and as of now they’ll be attending this high school.” Thankfully, Kasamatsu doesn’t mention the circumstances of why that is, which allows Kagami to let out a relieved sigh - he doesn’t want any pity from anyone. “I would like you all to give our new students a warm welcome.”

Kagami bitterly thinks, _they aren’t going to be giving us a ‘warm welcome’. Yeah, right._

The class erupts in whispers and sounds of awe - and people gave them looks as though they were literally a rare species of fish. Kagami sees Kuroko frown a little and Furihata twitching from being uncomfortable. The mousy haired boy loosens his tie and Kagami realizes he’s breathing a little nervously. He prays that they get to sit down soon for Furihata’s comfort.

_“Wait, so the rumors were true?”_

_“I thought that was a joke!”_

_“My Dad said there was no way they would let them into our school!”_

_“They’re wearing such bright uniforms…”_

_“Are all of their clothes in blue colours?”_

_“So they aren’t a myth - h-how are they breathing, and I thought they have scales!”_

_“They seem kinda fake though.”_

Kagami expected most of these responses, but then one of the students raises their hand when Kasamatsu was about to shout again, the teacher glares a little before seething, “what is it, _Nakamura-kun_?”

“What happened to their old school?” this boy named Nakamura asks, his wide eyes are curious. The tanned boy sitting next to Nakamura groans, and rests his head onto his desk, appearing to be asleep. Kagami finds each of these idiots irritating.

Kasamatsu-sensei flatly replies, “none of your god damn business that’s what. Unless you want to stay after school to have extra lessons, Nakamura-kun, I suggest you shut up. I’m not from Seirina, therefore it is not my place to answer that question on an entire city’s behalf.”

Nakamura closes his mouth and frowns at the teacher before crossing his arms while he slides lower onto his seat. Kasamatsu kicks at Nakamura’s desk, “AND - If I hear about anymore bullshit questions I’m already telling you that you’re going to have a whirlwind of hell waiting for you afterwards, in the form of math and english homework.”

The entire class quiets down and Kasamatsu grins proudly to himself, “now since that’s settled, let’s allow our new students to introduce themselves. You can say something about yourself if you like. It may be a great _learning experience_ for all of us.”

Kasamatsu gestures to the board before handing Kagami a piece of chalk. Kagami stiffens with the eyes landing on him but he shrugs the thoughts away and pretends not to hear people’s rude comments of how scary he looks.

He grits out after writing his name on the board, “My name is Kagami Taiga.” He turns back to face the class who wait expectantly for him to continue, “And that’s about it.”

Kasamatsu sighs and crosses his arms, “anything else to add?”

Kagami cracks his neck, “I really hate this tie I’m wearing right now?”

A few girls in the class giggle, while a few guys seem to nod their heads in understanding - despite the fact Seirin’s uniforms don’t require any ties.

His teacher nods, “Good enough, and sadly you have to keep that thing on.” Kagami grumbles out in annoyance after knowing this fact, at the back of his mind he knows he’s still going to rip it off later, but he has a feeling that Kasamatsu somehow realizes this also. He thinks he wouldn’t really mind.

Takao, of course, jumps at the chance to make a great first impression, gripping onto the chalk in a confident manner. He slides the chalk against the board effortlessly, “my name’s Takao Kazunari~!” He spins around and faces the class with a bright smile, “My father’s a traveler and he often tells me stories about other underwater cities!”

Kasamatsu gives a light smile, “interesting, as a traveler what does he do, research?”

“Oh no! The only job he could get as a traveler was a messenger! He sends messages and the like between cities. Like the Mayors and stuff. There’s no real research that needs to be done about historical things in the underwater cities - people generally know about everything and well gossip about it of course.” 

“Hm, interesting,” Kasamatsu replies, motioning for the next person to go.

Takao hands the chalk delicately to Momoi who smiles sweetly. Kagami immediately hears to his annoyance a lot of guys whispering to themselves. He glares silently at the class and the voices seem to shut up.

“Hi, my name is Momoi Satsuki, it’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” she bows to the class, “I love shopping and reading a little in my free time, and-uh- that’s about it.” Kagami half-expected her to mention her Dad being the Mayor, but now Kagami realizes she may not want people to flock to her due to that, so he gives a silent approval on her vague but sweet answer. Her being the Mayor’s daughter does not define her - she’s a lot more than that, Kagami’s come to learn over the years spent being around Kuroko.

Momoi quietly whispers encouragement to Furihata before he stutters his way through the introduction, Kagami impulsively glares at any student who may appear to think it’s funny and laugh at his good friend. Thankfully no one laughs, but Kagami does notice near the front of the class a weird looking student with bright red - almost fuchsia hair cut short revealing his forehead and an odd pair of yellow and red eyes that stare into his soul. The fact Kagami overlooked such a weird looking person is crazy - and he thought sea people were the weirdest of the bunch! This guy looked like something straight from a movie or magazine cover, his eyes appear as though he knows something no one else does when in that is impossible for the sea people didn’t talk to any humans for many years.

Kagami registers the end of Furihata’s introduction, a fact about himself, and he’s struggling to come up with something. Kagami is about to calm him but Kuroko beats him to it. His pale haired friend places a reassuring hand on Furihata’s shoulder and the boy takes a deep breathe before continuing, “I enjoy playing videogames in my spare time oh and reading like Momoi-san too!”

Kagami sighs at the use of honorifics that Furihata uses due to habit and Momoi’s class he addresses her as. He hears Momoi correcting him once Furihata hands Kuroko the piece of chalk to write his name. 

Kuroko concludes their introductions, “My name is Kuroko Tetsuya,” some students jolt in their seats since they didn’t see him in the first place, Kagami would judge them for it, but he was the same as a kid so it’s never their fault, “And like Furihata-kun and Momoi-chan, I enjoy reading in my spare time and this is my first time coming to the surface. So far it seems like a wonderful place to live.”

Students whisper a little after that and Kagami unconsciously begins glaring at people against his better judgement to seem ‘open-minded’ and ‘friendly’. Kagami has never been very good at those two things - normally friends are the ones who come to him, or in Furihata’s case, because of proximity. He never had to change his personality or force himself to act a certain way, his friends just learned to accept him. Surprisingly, Kuroko doesn’t give him a look of disapproval and his attention is hindered by Kasamatsu sending them to their new seats. 

They inhabit the back corner area. Kuroko sits beside him and Kagami is in the corner at the back right beside the window. Takao and Momoi are in front of him. Momoi taking a window seat also and Takao sitting beside a random person with bright green hair. Furihata is farthest from Kagami, a row ahead of Momoi and Takao, and is a seat away from the one closest to the window. A large guy with brown messy hair sits beside Furihata and seems to greet him with a friendly smile.

Kagami is a little relieved, trying to make himself comfortable in the wooden desk that has no real spot to sit leisurely. His tailbone is going to give him shit for this later. 

...

The morning classes drone on, which Kagami expected since he hasn’t been accustomed to sitting and listening to people talking about boring schoolwork. 

They never teach him anything helpful - nothing regarding being a blacksmith that he could use in his future career. Instead Kasamatsu is going on about variables and numbers. Kagami is extremely eager when the bells finally signal their break. 

He turns to Kuroko, who of course, is still writing the notes written on the board neatly into his notebook. Kagami decides he’ll steal a glance at it before the test so he’ll at least get some of the notes Kasamatsu wrote down.

Kagami slams his hands over Kuroko’s notebook, his led pencil stabs into the redhead’s hand. “Fuck! Watch where you place that thing!”

“You’re the one who put your hand in front of my work,” Kuroko retorts, annoyed. He pokes at Kagami’s hand again and the taller boy glares down at him.

“Quit that writing of yours and let’s eat.” Kagami motions his head for them to leave to the cafeteria. Kuroko instead slides Kagami’s hand off of his work and continues in his writing, “Once I’m done writing this last point down. Unless you don’t want to borrow my notes to study for the upcoming test?”

Kagami groans just when Takao and Momoi stand and turn to them. Momoi gets greetings and random questions about her hair from some girls across the room (who still haven’t left for lunch yet), while Takao drapes himself over Kagami’s desk.

“Oi, get off.” Kagami elbows Takao harshly on the back of the black haired boy’s neck, “You’re taking up my breathing space you idiot.”

Takao blurts, “Breathing? You can breath fine!”

Momoi finishes in talking with the other girls and looks on the strange sight of Takao inhabiting the top of Kagami’s desk with a raise of one of her thin eyebrows. “I’m guessing someone ran out of their sugar rush.” She turns her head to the front of the class, eyes searching, “Uh, where’s Furihata-kun?”

Kagami jolts up in his seat, nearly knocking over his chair, and just as Momoi, realizes in the sparsely filled room does not include a Furihata Kouki in it. Before Kagami can hightail it out of the room, the boy who sat beside Furihata - with the messy brown hair and broad shoulders makes his way over, with a smile. Kagami realizes this guy has quite thick eyebrows - thick like his own red ones but much tamer in a way Kagami can never get his to look.

“Furihata-kun headed to the bathroom,” the guy answers Momoi’s question with a large grin, “he’ll be back soon. My name is Kiyoshi by the way, I’m really happy you all joined our high school, it’s a great place.”

Kuroko nods, “I hope we can enjoy this place to fullest.”

Kagami squints at the tall guy, who’s named Kiyoshi, “Are you a student council representative or something?”

Kiyoshi winks as he leaves, “Something like that. Got places to be, though. Tell Furihata I say bye.” Then the guy is gone. Kagami thinks he must be a busy person - judging by the fact he needs to be somewhere only on the second day of school. (They came on the second day since their regular high school starts later than Seirin) He’s glad someone's talking to Furihata, at least he has one less thing to worry about.

Furihata comes back looking a lot more refreshed and a little less out of breath, which is good. His tie is on properly once more and it reminds Kagami he felt the need to discard his.

On their way to the cafeteria he doesn’t bother bringing his, leaving the dreadful bright fabric sitting on top of his abandoned school bag.

...

It’s on their way back from the cafeteria and Kagami closely follows behind Kuroko when their peaceful day hits rock bottom.

Momoi is walking up ahead, long hair swishing when the tanned guy, who was sleeping beside Nakamura at the beginning of class turns the corner and walks by her side. Kagami doesn’t think anything of it and continues talking with Kuroko about how the sandwich he got was definitely superior to Kuroko’s, when he realizes that Momoi is slowing down and her shoulders are pushed back harshly, appearing rigid.

Kagami recognizes the action from when she’s angry, so he approaches the two with fast steps before Kuroko can stop him from proceeding. 

Kuroko lets out a warning, “Kagami-kun don’t”-

Kagami hears the remnants of the other two’s conversation - if you can call it that.

“So, I heard that sea people got gills, where are yours? Under that short skirt of yours?” The tanned guy is smirking down at Momoi in a extremely vile fashion and the girl’s shoulders are tense as she glares.

“I said to shut up - t-that’s not even a proper question!” she flings her hand at him and he grips onto her wrist tightly. Momoi narrows her eyes at the contact and pulls her hand back to herself, but the grip doesn’t budge.

“What I wanna do to you is anything but proper.” The guy frowns, “You don’t need to be a bitch about it though - Ms. Booby Queen.”

“W-what did you call me?”

“HEY!” Kagami growls pushing between the two, and shaking in anger. He leans into the bastard’s face, “What the hell are you saying you fucking asshole?!”

Momoi strokes her wrist soothingly while furrowing her eyebrows at Kagami. “Kagami-kun, what are you doing there’s” -

“Oh, you’re her boyfriend? Did I get ya mad - cause I really don’t care.”

Kagami seethes, “Maybe I am, maybe I’m not - it doesn’t fucking matter - don’t you dare touch her like that again!”

“Ah so she rejected you - and you can’t admit you’re not good enough. What a pain. She must be pretty bitchy to say no to some hero complex guy like you.”

“You better shut the fuck up.” Kagami finds himself losing his temper, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides, wishing he could really punch this tanned guy with annoyingly lazy blue eyes in the face.

Kuroko suddenly appears (or was he there the entire time?) gripping onto the back of Kagami’s uniform jacket tightly, “Kagami enough, this isn’t how our day is supposed to be.”

“NO! this guy is an ass, he deserves to be fucking yelled at!”

Kuroko tries to smile at the tanned guy, “My name is Kuroko Tetsuya, it’s nice to meet you.”

Kagami is about to bash Kuroko’s head in for being so nice to someone who called Momoi a bitch when the friendly Kiyoshi - who emanates worry on his face within a five foot radius - approaches the tanned teen, who sighs resignedly at his classmate.

Kiyoshi states to the tanned guy, “No need to fight.” He looks up to Kagami, “Both of you. Aomine-kun, apologize to whoever you hurt.”

“Nah. I didn’t hurt anyone - they’re fish. Not people.”

Kiyoshi narrows his eyes, mouth opening in confusion, when suddenly the loud yell of a familiar voice reaches Kagami’s ears. “HEY! Get back to your classes! Nothing to see here!” Other students staring at the scene scramble away, as though the short in stature teacher were the representation of hell itself in physical form.

“Aomine. You’re staying after school, for detention. No basketball practice for you,” Kasamatsu points out coldly. Kagami wonders what basketball might be, he's never heard of it before - it must be easy if a guy like Aomine can do it though.

The navy haired boy sighs, sounding as though he’s bored, “I don’t need the practice with those guys anyways. I’m not losing anything, really.”

“Except for your time and dignity,” Kasamatsu loudly snaps, voice going thin. Kagami thinks the teacher’s going to short circuit from how red his face is getting.

“Time, yes,” Aomine shrugs while stalking to class, “Dignity? Not really.”

Kasamatsu ends up apologizing profusely after Aomine’s safely out of earshot, but Kagami can’t seem to put the effort in to listen. His focus is only on 3 facts:

1) Aomine is a complete prick to be around.  
2) Momoi should be away from him at all times.  
3) Kuroko needs to stop being a freaking angel for one second, especially when it comes to a guy like that. One with no sense when it comes to other’s feelings. No restraint in the slightest. 

After figuring out these facts that keep popping up into his brain for the rest of the day, even if the surface world consists of thousands of kind people, the fact that there is a slim chance people like Aomine are living here sets him over the edge. 

He knows Kuroko can understand his uneasiness, in the way he bumps shoulders with him on the way out of class, or how his gaze lingers before they part ways. The only thing worrying him is that once Kuroko catches on, he’ll start getting ideas. Which means him being the freaking god of peacekeeping.

And above anything else, Kagami really doesn’t want to talk to that prick ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update - I don't even know how long this has taken! I don't know when the next possible update will be, but I'm hoping soon! Thanks for all of your comments, and kudos, I really appreciate every one of them!
> 
> I've added my drawings tot he story cause I thought it would be a fun idea, let me know what you guys think? for now I haven't coloured them, but when I do I'll update the photos to the coloured versions :3 I will probably do less drawing for future chapters since it i pretty time-consuming


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